


Who Knew

by CelestialHeavens1



Series: Who Knew [2]
Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Humans, Hybrids, Post 3x09, Supernatural - Freeform, Vampires, Werewolves, Who Knew Verse, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-21
Updated: 2012-11-21
Packaged: 2017-11-19 05:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/569618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialHeavens1/pseuds/CelestialHeavens1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 3x09. Everything was so perfect. But in the blink of an eye, everything changes. How do you deal with losing the one you live for?  Follows Elena's journey as she copes with change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue- Elena

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Ashley and Danny, who are pulled out of the depths of my imagination.

My lips pressed together in a bitter and jealous sort of way as I watched my roommate, Ashley, and her boyfriend, Daniel, Danny, together on the couch, just cuddling in our little dorm room as I pasted through the living room, going into the kitchen. It must be nice to have your perfect counterpart right there next to you, your soul mate within reach, within sight.

_"I promise you... I will never leave you again."_

The voice was hardly a whisper in my mind anymore. I could hardly remember his face. I can't remember if his eyes raged closer to gray or black when he was angry. I can't remember if his hair used to give off a reddish tint in the sunlight, like Stefan's did. I couldn't remember how he even did the eye thing that used to drive me insane.

Three years, one months, and twelve days. That's how long it's been since I last saw _Damon Salvatore_. He didn't show up for Caroline's Christmas extravaganza, so I went to the boarding house to make sure he was okay. His room… completely cleared out, including the bed and his closet. I spent a few cold nights on the hardwood floors of his room, clutching his leather jacket that I had kept, but meaning to give back to him. He was gone, really, truly gone.

I couldn't get myself to cry anymore. I go through the motions of life with reluctance, going to college so that it seems like I'm still together, for Caroline and Bonnie and Jeremy and Ric. I have to hold myself together for them.

From my spot in the kitchen, I can see Ashley curled up to Danny on one of the rare nights we don't have homework. They can't see me, as I make a cup of vervain tea before moving to put the dishes away, because they're so locked inside their little bubble that I'm not even here in their minds.

I'm at the knives, putting them away into the knife block we have. There's one that has an old, nearly faded bloodstain on the handle. My mind flashed back to the memory.

_"The deal is off."_

_"I'm renegotiating."_

_"You have nothing left to negotiate with." I pull the knife from behind my sleeves, holding it._

_"I'd like to see you lure Klaus into Mystic Falls after the doppelganger bleeds to death."_

_"Stefan won't let you die," Elijah says confidently._

_"No, he won't," I agreed, "He'll feed me his blood to heal me, and then I'll kill myself and become a vampire, just like Katherine did. So unless you want that to happen again, promise me the same as before... promise me... you won't harm anyone that I love. Even if they've harmed you."_

_"I'm sorry, Elena. I'm going to have to call your bluff." I brace myself, holding the knife in front of me with both hands. I take a deep breath, then…_

"Uh!" I moan out, as quiet as I can so not to break the lovers from their bubble, letting my body fall to the floor as I begin to bleed to death.


	2. Chapter 1- Elena

Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…

"No!" I groaned loudly, taking in the all too familiar beeping and the light that's far too bright. My eyes are met by a pair of blue eyes, the wrong blue eyes. I groaned again. I must still be asleep, considering the only reason he'd ever come to see me would be for more blood for his precious hybrids… or Rebekah somehow got the dagger out and spilled her guts about me stabbing her with the dagger in the first place... provided that the first thing she did wasn't attempt to kill him when she first woke up.

The worthless jerk was laughing at me, even though he wasn't doing that out loud. I could see it in his eyes. I pulled the pillow out from behind my head and over my face.

"What do you want?" I mumbled into the hospital pillow.

"I heard a rumor that the doppelganger stabbed herself and tried to commit suicide." I rolled my eyes from under the pillow and mustered up the most sarcastic, Katherine-like voice I had.

"I'm so sorry for inconveniencing your plans of world domination. Please, drain all the blood from my body into blood bags so that you may continue and I can die in peace."

He chuckled, the stupid idiot. I just continued glaring at him through my pillow. If a nurse came in, they'd think I was attempting to suffocate myself.

"Now, don't be like that, Elena," he said far too cheerfully, "I'm here to get you released." I pulled the pillow down, observing him carefully. Maybe I can get him angry and he'll just kill me.

"Gee, thanks," I said in the same sarcastic tone I spoke with earlier, "What's in it for you?"

He raised his eyebrow at me as if I really needed to ask. I know that if I wait until he's turned away, maybe, just maybe, I could strangle myself with the wires and then he'd have the choice to either turn me or let me die. I know he can't force me into drinking his blood; I'm not any good to him if I'm not human, so it's a safe bet. Klaus told me he'd be back in a few minutes; he's go to go sign my release papers when I wrapped my neck in the hospital wires and pulled them tight.

The world goes black again and I could hear that stinking heart monitor beep erratically before it finally just makes a loud screeching noise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mom?" I groaned, staring at the beautiful woman before me. She smiled. "Dad?" I cried, running to hug them both. I felt a hand on my back and turned. "Jenna!"

"Elena," another voice said and I turned to face my birth mother. I stared at her before I finally hugged her.

"Thank you," I whispered. She nodded, hugging me back. When I pulled away, I looked at them. "Where are we?"

"In the after life," Isobel answered. "They're giving us time to say goodbye to you."

"Goodbye?" I asked, my face etched in horror, "Where are you going?"

Jenna shook her head. "We're not going anywhere. You're going."

"B-but I want to stay with you guys." I looked at them, about ready to cry, "Please," I added as if that would make a difference. My mom reached over and hugged me.

"Sweetie, you are so strong. You just need to be a little stronger."

"But I don't want to be." My dad placed a hand on my back, pulling me into his embrace for a moment.

"Then be strong for Jeremy and your friends. They need you. I think you'd be surprised how many people you influence."

"But I don't want to leave you."

"Elena, we're only saying goodbye to you. You have a life on Earth," Jenna told me. She hugged me, "Say goodbye to Ric and Jeremy for me, will you?" I nodded. She turned and left, leaving me with Isobel.

"I have never once regretted giving you up to Miranda and Grayson," she told me, "but only because I knew they would love you and take care of you in a way John and I never could have. But we did love you." She looked away into the nothingness before looking back at me, "We do love you. We're all so incredibly proud of you. I'm sorry I never got to really know you." I nodded. "Live, enjoy life. I never really did." She stepped back and smiled. "Goodbye Elena."

I sighed after she disappeared. "Elena…" I jumped, turning around.

"John… I read your letter," I told my biological father. He nodded. "I'm going to be a vampire, aren't I?"

"That's up to you. Either way, we are all behind your decision."

"I gave Alaric your ring back. He needed it more than me." John nodded and smiled.

"I wish I had told you sooner. There are a lot of things I wish I had done differently with you, but I have a feeling at some point, all roads would have led here to you. You are going to have to be strong, Elena. You are gaining a powerful ally, one that only you can change. I love you. I'm so proud of the beautiful young woman you've become."

"I forgive you," I whispered to him, "I know you said it didn't matter, but it does. And I'm thankful I got to live a human life for three more years. And I love you guys too. And I'm sorry I never pressed to really get to know you and Isobel as my parents, I am."

"I know. I have to go now though," John said, "and you do too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I jerked up, gasping for breath. It felt like I was drowning. My gums were on fire. My head felt like it had a sharp, stabbing pain going through it.

"You're more persistent than Katerina, aren't you?" an accented voice asked. I blinked my eyes open, the surface I was laying on much too soft and comfortable to be a hospital bed.

I groaned, louder than I had before. "Really?" I asked him, "You can't just let me die in peace? Is that too much to ask?"

Klaus rolled his eyes at me from the couch of the hotel room. In his hand, he had a tumbler of red liquid, blood. "Well, you got your wish."

I raised my eyebrows incredulously at him. Did I look dead dead to him? I moved, noticing I was in normal clothes and not that awful hospital gown. "What do you want?" I decided, knowing I'd get nowhere arguing with the remaining Original vampire about him just letting me die.

"I want you to sit here for five minutes and see if you can go without attempting to kill yourself when I have my back turned. Ready… and go!"

I rolled my eyes, getting up instead, just to annoy him. Maybe if I annoyed him enough, he'd just kill me. I closed the bathroom door, no point in locking it though, he'd just break the door anyways if he wanted in. That's when the excruciating pain went through my gums.

Caroline had told me once about when she went through transition. She was alone, scared. She didn't know what was going on, other than the hunger. She was so hungry. I feel like I haven't eaten in years.

The television, though it's in the other room through the closed door, was far too loud. The lights are killing my eyes. Why was it so bright? Why couldn't everything just stop?

By the time I had left the bathroom, the room was empty, other than a hastily scribbled message about being back in a few hours. His tumbler of blood was sitting on the side table, his jacket thrown over the side of the couch and forgotten in his haste. I wondered what could be so important. I wonder why an Original vampire could be bothered as my personal guard on suicide watch. It made no sense.

I sat for a few hours, watching the TV. There wasn't much on, a couple of new Blockbusters on the hotel's pay per view. I don't think he'd mind… much. I wound up watching Gone With the Wind and crying through most of it. The last time I watched it, I found out Damon was dying and kissed him later that day. My emotions seemed haywire. I could hardly sit still.

At nine o'clock, Klaus still wasn't back and I'm sure not going to stick around waiting for him. All I've been doing for the past three years has been waiting… waiting for a man who has stopped caring… who has stopped wanting me. I'm sick of it. I'm not waiting around for it to happen again. Besides, it's not like he'll find Jeremy on his little college tour, or dare mess with Bonnie and the witches she's studying under, or find Caroline as she tries to find a way to pull Tyler from being "sired". Alaric's the only one I care about who's in danger from Klaus, as incredibly selfish as that is, but he won't hurt him. He doesn't have to look as hard as he did with Katherine to find me.

By ten o'clock, I swear my head's going to explode, or implode. The street lights are blinding me and the people and their chatter is driving me insane. I can remember Elijah compelling me to tell him the location of the moonstone, Damon telling me he loved me, then compelling me to forget. I can remember stabbing myself, the blackness that followed, then waking up in the hospital bed, Klaus there, then strangling myself, trying to die, then waking up in some sort of Heaven, talking to my parents and birth parents and Jenna, before I woke up on the hotel bed thinking I failed.

Only now I know I really did succeed, as my parents and birth parents and Jenna all told me. However, I hadn't counted on having Klaus' blood in my system. The thoughts that raced after scared me, because now I know I only have two choices. I can either transition and take human blood and complete the change… or I can die.

With the first, I can search for Damon forever. I might be by myself at the moment, but if- by the odd chance- I did find him and he did still love me, we could have an eternity to make up for those three years. However, I could search forever and never find him or he could not love me anymore. The thought makes me go cold all over.

On the other hand, if I did die, I'd have to live in the after life with my what ifs. What if I had turned? What if I found Damon? What if I told the dark-hair blue-eyed vampire that I love him more than I ever loved his brother?

"I don't want to be a vampire, Stefan. I never wanted to be one."

It seems like eons ago when I said those words to Stefan. So much has changed since then. I don't know what to do. I wanted to crawl up in my bed and my mom or Aunt Jenna to come in and tell me everything's going to be alright. I wanted to hug my teddy bear while they stroked my hair. I wanted Damon to yell at me about how he's angry, or tell me he's sorry, or just to be here.

I don't want this. When the sun comes up in the morning, I'll be dead. It will be easy, quick, and maybe even painless. I can see my mom again, and Daddy, and Aunt Jenna, and even John and Isobel. Maybe I'll see some of my friends who became victims over the course of the past several years to these vampire attacks. Everything will be alright.

"Hey there, sugar," a disgusting, filthy man whose breath made me want to vomit said to me. I jumped and bit hard on my lip, tasting the blood that was on it. My blood. Still human, but at the same time, not at all.

"Get away from me."

"Now…" he drawls out, "Don't be like that."

He grabs my arm, pinning it to the walls. I try to jerk away, trying to savor my last hours on Earth. "Let me go," I warned him. He chuckled, breathing that beer breath in my face.

"Whatcha gonna do 'bout it, sugar?" I slap him with my free hand. I slap him so hard, I can hear the bones in his neck crack. My nail had dragged across the man's neck, cutting it open. My fingers of the hand are covered in blood… and it's all I can think about.

Cautiously, I flick my tongue out over my fingers. It tasted metallic, which I expected, but sweeter than I had imagined. It felt like power, running through my veins, like I could jump from buildings and lift cars and do all sorts of incredible things. The word euphoric came to mind. The man was staring at me like I was crazy, but I could feel a jagged pain in my upper jaw as two canines extended down and a sharp hunger in my stomach as it got the first taste of what it really wanted. My nose was betraying me, telling me that there was a warm source of blood, take it, drain it, kill it.

I lunged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I must have blacked out. There's no other explanation for it. I can't remember what happened, but I don't feel so cold anymore. I'm not in pain, but I know that will change when the sun comes up. So I decided to survey the damage. My body, covered in the red substance it now needs to survive. I looked to my right, seeing the dead, torn up body of the drained man. I can only tell that it's a man by his clothes, the body to bloody and mangled to tell much about him. My emotions, still haywire, make me want to cry, so I do.

I hardly register the footsteps that stop in front of the alley way. I'm in too much pain- mentally- to get up. I feel like I'm going to be sick. I killed someone… and I liked it. I liked it. How does that make me any better, any different than Stefan or Klaus or Katherine or any of those psychopathic vampires that killed for fun? I am just like Katherine.

"Help me," I pleaded to the person, "Please help me."

The person doesn't answer, just steps forward. "I leave you alone for three hours on a lead for where your boyfriend is," I don't have to look up to know it's Klaus there, who's lifting me into his arms and calling a taxi. I wondered how he found me, but I'm far too upset to care much at the moment. "Now, love, I need you to calm down and tell me what happened," he says once inside the taxi. It doesn't take a genius to know he's either compelling the driver or will kill him.

"The man…" I choke out, "he came up to me.. he was drunk… I slapped him when he… he- he tried to kiss me and my finger nail caught on his neck and tore it open and blood- there was a lot of blood… and I woke up and was covered in it." I break off, sobbing into my hand as I rock myself back and forth. I felt absolutely frozen again, like my blood was made of ice and that's all that was pumping through my veins.

"Hush…" Klaus said softly, pulling off the jacket he had forgotten on the couch earlier and wrapping it around me. If I weren't so out of it, I would laugh at his human side… or try to pull it out more.

"I don't want to kill people," I was finally able to get out.

When we got back to the hotel, Klaus carried me up to the room, my mental health not the best at the moment. He ushered me towards the bathroom with an understanding look on his face. I closed the door and peeled off the now blood-sodden clothes, laying them on the floor in a small pile and stepping inside the shower.

It was near instantly that I stepped in the tub that I collapsed to the floor, sobbing in pain. I don't want to be a vampire. I never have.


	3. Chapter 2- Elena

Klaus was waiting for me in the living room when I got out of the shower. He had a glass of bourbon in his hand, swirling it mindlessly. I had dressed in the clothes that he had left in the bathroom by the sink for me. He must have gone shopping while he was out, or while I was dead. Or he stole them or ripped them off of some poor girl's body. Which ever way it was, I'd have to remember to thank him.

"I just can't leave you alone, can I?" he asked as I curled up against the arm of the couch, completely drained. He set down the glass, got up, and handed me a new glass filled with the liquid. I hardly touched the liquid, feeling too nauseated with myself.

"I blacked out," I whimpered, "When I attacked him, I don't remember any of it."

Klaus ran his hands through his hair. "I suspected as much."

"Why are you being nice to me? I thought you wanted me human because you needed my blood to make hybrids."

He went to the window, closing the curtains just as the sun began to peak over the horizon, before he sat down again. The quiet is overwhelming between us. I could hear everything, from the buzz of the lights to the people talking in the room below us. "I suppose it's because you remind me of someone I used to know," he answered finally, "someone I- I cared very deeply about."

"What happened to her?" I found myself asking, though I already knew the answer.

"She broke my heart," he answered, to my surprise, expecting something different, "She had a child before she was married, and then she couldn't chose between Elijah and I." He looked down at his glass as he swirls it as if he was ashamed. "Her blood was what we drank when we first turned, but we didn't know it at the time." His eyes were glazed over, seeing something far in the past instead of the present, "She was the first Petrova doppleganger," he told me. "Tatia," he shook his head, "She had fire in her spirit."

I gasped, nearly dropping the glass. I had never seen the Original look so human before. I wondered if he realized how much of himself he just gave away, that he did have his humanity, he just hid it. He was still hurt, and I guessed that the man you believed to be your father for all of your human life hating you then at the beginning of your new life that your parents forced you into, your mother casting a spell on you to hold in a side of you that wasn't even your fault must take a toll on you. I could understand how it would be easier just to turn it off.

Then, the strangest event of the last forty-eight hours happened. Something wet and shiny formed at the bottom of his eyes. Tears! My mind exclaimed, Klaus' is crying. My mind flashed back to homecoming almost three years ago, when Mikael taunted him. It wasn't my own memory, rather, one of Katherine's memories that she had given me when she had found me, a little over a year ago.

I leaned over, for some strange, bizarre reason, and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. His body betrayed his weakness as he shook, so softly that if I had still been human, I wouldn't have been able to tell.

_"You feel guilty," my memory self said to Damon._

_"That would be human of me, wouldn't Elena? And I'm not human. You want to talk about giving up? All you've done is give up! Go home. It's been enough doom, gloom and personnel growth for one night."_

_"Okay, I will." I hugged him, despite the fact he refused to hug me back. "Good night Damon."_

I could feel the little droplets of water hit my shoulder before he responded, moving his hands to my waist and burying his face into the crook of my neck, as if we had been friends for ages, as if I had never feared for my life because of him, as if all my remaining family, save Jeremy, hadn't died at his hands, as if he had never killed me the first time I had died.

I couldn't explain why I felt so awful for him right now. Stefan always told me, back when he was still in control, that as a vampire, human emotions are heightened. Anger became rage, sadness became despair, love became passionate love, pain became crippling. As a human, I cared about everyone, or at least it felt that way. I was also vain, shallow, and selfish, all the things that Katherine is, but I had changed after my parents died. I was cautious, I was reckless and impulsive. I dove head first into things without stopping to think. I thought too much. I was every bit like Katherine. I was nothing like Katherine. I didn't know what I was anymore.

Maybe that explained why I was hugging Klaus now. It hurt to see him in pain, despite all the pain he caused me. Maybe because he had tried to save me or had come and seen me in the hospital, despite it being for his own selfish needs or maybe it was because he had comforted me after I had lost control. Maybe it's because somewhere in him, there's this sad, scared little boy, trapped behind all these walls. Perhaps it was because despite the fact his was a homicidal psychopath, I had always know exactly what he was. He never had hid that he was going to kill me or that he was after my blood. He'd always told us exactly what he had been after and what he'd do to us if he didn't get it.

His body was shaking as we held onto each other. I rocked from side to side slowly, the way my mom always had for me when I was upset. One hand found his hair as I ran my fingers through his blond locks. They were soft, softer than you'd think. I could feel his muscles underneath his shirt. He was strong, strong enough to protect me from myself, strong enough to kill, but still human, no matter how broken, beneath that shell. It was something that I could identify with.

I don't know how long we both stayed like that, but when we pulled apart, I curled into his side as he turned on an old black and white classic. It was comforting and surprisingly normal. It felt right and for the first time in a long time, I felt safe again. And for the first time in my life, I was completely unafraid of the Original.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Klaus took it upon himself to train me in how to be a vampire. From turning the guilt off to how to feed to how to tell who was a werewolf, he made sure I knew the basics. I knew some of the basics from Stefan, Caroline, Tyler, _Damon_ , and even Katherine, back from when I was human. He knew my aversion to killing humans, so he showed me where the worst securities was to break into blood banks to steal the blood rather than feed off people. I couldn't stand the taste of animals blood and it just wasn't practical here. He tested me until I was able to control myself around humans. Within the month, I was back to normal. Well, as normal as I could get with my life as screwed up as it was.

It was then that I went back to my dorm. Klaus had compelled the councilors and doctors and all to believe I was sick and had been hallucinating when I stabbed myself from high temperatures. Klaus and I developed a shaky friendship, seemingly unstable, but somehow, it worked. I was scared at first. He had hurt me so much and had hurt so much of my family, yet somehow, we worked together well. I didn't understand it, and it scared me to death, no pun intended, but Klaus and I had an understanding. He wouldn't hurt me anymore.

"Uggh!" I groaned as I woke up, still groggy, feeling leaves and grass in places I should definitely not be feeling leaves and grass. My hair was knotted in with dirt and something dried and crusty and… "GAH!" I screamed, jumping up. I was naked and covered with blood.

The bodies near me were torn to pieces and my clothes were hanging on a bush near it. My phone, which incredibly still had service, was ringing, Klaus's number flashing onto the screen. I wonder if he had planned this. It seemed unlikely, but then again, the man turned me. He'd love to have the doppelganger under his control for as long as possible.

I washed myself in a stream not too far away, dressing, then going over to the piece of the bodies to examine them. There was a woman's hand, manicured with French tips, clutching something that looked like hair. I stumbled backwards in realization. Fur!

"Oh God!" I cried out, gasping. No, I thought, Klaus most definitely did not have a part in this. As his third call from the time I woke up went to voice mail, I shut the phone off so that they wouldn't be able to find me for a little while. There was somewhere else I needed to be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I managed to walk to the road. I made sure to look as if I had been crying. I flagged down a car, headed in the direction I needed to go with little effort.

"Miss, are you alright?" I shook my head, playing the part of hysterical friend. "What's wrong?"

"Last night, we were hiking. Oh God! My cell phone was dead. There was this wolf. It came out of nowhere and they- they're… Oh my God!"

"Miss, who's they?"

"My friends, they're… please help me." He nodded.

"I'm headed towards Mystic Falls. It's the closest gas station. My phone's dead too. We can call the police there, okay?" I nodded, getting into the car. He got in slowly after me. His teeth lengthened and veins emerged from under his eyes. I held up the makeshift stake that I made from one of the branches in the woods.

"Don't even think about it."

"How did you know?" the vampire asked me several minutes later.

"Vampires have a distinctive smell," I said before I realized it was true. _Damon_ and Stefan and Caroline all had one very distinctive smell. Tyler and Klaus had a similar scent to each other. All were unique, but each person of a species had a like smell to the others. I had never paid it much attention before, but now, some of the pieces were being to add together.

John was desperate for me to remain human when I came back, so much that he let himself die for me. Mom and Dad were always careful to never set me off. I had never had a good temper as a kid, but I had learned to balance it out as I grew up, mostly with large quantities of alcohol by the time I turned sixteen. John all but forced me to believe it wasn't my fault that my parents' car went off the bridge.

"Then what does that make you?"

His question placed my thoughts out loud exactly to what I was wondering. What was I? Was I a werewolf? Where would the werewolf gene have come from if I was one? Had John known?

"I don't know."

There was about three things I was sure of at the moments.

One: I was a vampire. That fact was proven and I knew that I was indeed a vampire. I had vampire blood in my system and had died and fed on human blood.

Two: I had killed someone in the process of becoming a vampire. I had taken a human life, all that is needed to trigger the werewolf curse if I was indeed a werewolf.

Three: Klaus' blood had turned me into a vampire. My blood was in my system. It ran through my veins, my very being. We had proven that those were the only two things needed to make a hybrid in a person who had already triggered the curse.

But what if they hadn't? What if that wasn't really fur? Was I a werewolf, a hybrid, or was I just a ripper like Stefan? But if that were the case, why the woods and why did I wake up completely naked? Or maybe it was both, in which case, that would explain why I always tore the bodies beyond recognition, draining every bit of blood. I always blacked out during a kill. I could never remember killing the people.

What the heck was I? I swallowed deeply. I knew exactly what I was, or at least some deep suspicions.

"So, Mystic Falls," the vampire said, "It was my home when I was a kid."

"Really?" I said, "That's just great."

"I lived here before it was officially a town." I froze, my eyes now unseeing out the window.

"In the eighteen hundreds?" I whispered.

"Eighteen thirty nine was when I was born, to be precise."

"Who's family?" He stared at me confused. "You say it so proudly. Which of the founding families?"

"Gilberts, of course. Uncle Johnathan didn't know what he was onto with those journals." He was my relative. A cousin, perhaps?

"How'd you turn?"

"Vampires came to town," he said softly, staring at the road, "What do you know about the Battle of Willow Creek?" he asked me.

"I know it was cover up for the twenty-six vampires that were locked in the Church. Twenty-seven, if you count Katherine. I don't."

"You know about Miss Pierce?"

"I know that she turned Stefan and Damon Salvatore, how she sold Emily out to be burned alive, how she brought destruction upon all that befriended her. I also know she is probably the single most self-serving person to walk the earth." My unknown ancestor stared at me momentarily as I spoke badly about my other ancestor, before shaking his head.

"So who are you?"

"I'm-" I paused, watching the world pass as the rain started while I decided how to answer, "confused." I glanced back to him, "Where would they keep the records of who married who?"

"The Lockwoods have always kept them in the mayor's office in their house." My somehow relative grinned playfully at me, like he was sharing a great secret with me, "You know, to keep the vampires from them."

"Well thanks," I told him as we stopped, "You've been a great help, unknown Gilbert."

"It's Thomas," he told me, giving me a small smirk, "I never got your name or the reason why you look so much like Miss Pierce."

"Katherine is my many times great-grandmother. I'm Elena." He nodded, handing me a strip of paper with his phone number on it.

"In case you don't find what you're looking for, maybe I can help." I smiled at him.

"Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mrs. Lockwood, I need to look at the Founders' records," I told the mayor as she opened the door.

"Elena, what's wrong?" she asked me, frowning at the urgency in my voice. "Why are you standing in the rain? You're going to get a cold. It's the middle of winter. Come in. I'll make you something hot to drink." I nodded, stepping inside numbly as she closed the door behind me.

"I just really need to look at those documents." She nodded and I followed her into the kitchen.

"I was making herbal tea. I had made some extra. I hope you don't mind."

"Please don't you dare tell Caroline you saw me. If she hears I'm here, I'll never hear the end of it," I told her, realizing that I was indeed cold. I had gotten too used to the lighter winters. Virginia was a cold state.

"My lips are sealed," she told me, pouring out two cups of tea. She picked up hers and I followed her to her office as she unlocked the French doors, letting me into the office. "What are you looking for?"

"Marriage records for the Gilberts sometime between 1860 and 1980." She nodded, moving to a filing cabinet.

"To who?" she asked, opening it to the Gilbert drawer.

"You'll think I'm crazy," I told her, but she gave me a defiant 'try me' gaze. "Lockwoods." She nodded, moving right to the file.

"The Lockwood-Gilbert marriage in 1915. Julianne Lockwood married Jacob Gilbert. They had a child together, Thomas Jacob, and Jacob fought in the World War I. She was widowed and remarried his older brother, who came back alive, Johnathan Gilbert III. They had three more children, Johnathan IV, Samantha, and Charlotte."

"This is the really crazy part," I told her, sitting across from her. "Was Julianne a werewolf?"

"What makes you ask that?" Carol asked me. She looked concerned, but I saw her hand beginning to dial her cell phone. "Elena, you haven't touched your tea."

"I think I'm pregnant," I lied as I picked up the cup and took a sip. Vervain, "I don't want any problems for the baby, but two nights ago was the full moon and I felt really uneasy and-"

"She was," Carol blurted out, "Johnathan III journaled her transformations, in great detail too." She leaned over the desk and took my hands in her's, "Who's the father, Elena?"

I pressed my lips together, shaking my head, and she retracted her hand, placing it back to dial the phone. I wasn't going to give away all my secrets. Especially not to her. "This is really good tea." I said, changing the subject, "What kind is it?" That's when she finally relaxed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are the most despicable, demonic, evil creature I have ever had the misfortune of knowing!" I yelled, stabbing the man in the stomach with a piece of wood, knowing it wouldn't hurt him.

"Good grief! What did I do this time?" Klaus growled at me.

"You didn't do your homework, that's what!" He stared at me as if I was insane. "In 1915, a Lockwood, who definitely carried the werewolf gene, married into the Gilbert family, and had two sons who both carried the gene, the only two sons to get married an have children, John and my dad." I made a face, "I suppose I could say that the other way around." I shook my head, clearing it, "I'd bet you anything that my father John had it too and didn't trigger it because he only killed vampires."

It dawned on him then. "That's where you've been for the past few days."

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure I left a blood trail from here into the middle of Virginia, because when I work up, I was thirty minutes away from Mystic Falls." He pinched the bridge between his nose.

"Here I thought that was Stefan's doing that." He groaned, "So I accidentally made you into a hybrid. If that's true, then how'd you survive past the transition."

I walked up to Klaus, flicking him on the forehead. "Gee, I wonder! Oh yeah, the stupid curse never said you had to drink my blood, only that you had to have it."

"And your blood in your body was all your at that point in times."

"Bingo." Klaus muttered something then under his breath that I didn't quite catch. Is sounded like a mix between ancient Latin and German, neither of which I knew, but if I was to guess, I'd figure it would be him cursing something. Probably his mother. He seems to have a ton of mommy-issues. And Tatia issues. And Stefan issues. And daddy-issue. "So, yes, thank you," I said in the most sarcastic voice I could muster up, "I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed. Don't you dare let Ashley wake me up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What are you making?" the thousand something year old hybrid asked over my shoulder as I stood in Ashley and I's kitchen. Around us, there was all cardboard boxes. We were going to start moving into our house off campus. In our new house (a.k.a. mansion), my witchy roommate and her boyfriend were going to have their own room and Klaus was moving in with us. Since she had hired a contractor to redo the whole inside, she had them put in a basement with chains that should hold in a hybrid or two. We hadn't exactly tested them yet.

"Tea," I stated simply, taking a sip. I held the glass out to him, smirking, "Want some?" He stole my teacup from my hands and I rolled my eyes.

"Gahh!" he screamed as the liquid hit his tongue, "What is that?"

"Vervain," Ashley snorted walking in, "She's drank it for like the past what, three years."

"How did I not smell that?" He glared at me and I merely shrugged under the Original's gaze as I stole my cup back from him, talking a long sip. Klaus looked as if he was about to smack his forehead. I knew the feeling all too well. "Why drink that disgusting, vile tea?"

"I figured Katherine was onto something," I told him, knowing it would annoy him, "After all, she did manage to outrun you for five hundred years. And how much of that did she stay in the same place as you? I know she was in Chicago when you were there, both a few years ago and in the Twenties."

Sure enough, I heard him walk into another room and both Ashley and I cringed as we heard something break. "If that was any walls, door, windows, or anything attached to the dorm," she shouted to him as he walked back in, "You're paying for damages."

He rolled his eyes and she focused straight on his head. Seconds later, he collapsed to the floor, screaming in pain. I glanced over to her, and she was grinning. I rolled my eyes. If Ashley wasn't so in love with Danny, and Klaus wasn't so in love with his dead ex-girlfriend who hated him, you'd think Ashley and Klaus were secretly married for the past millennia.

Danny walked out, holding a box of his things from Ashley's room. He glanced at the two of them, the hybrid on the floor and the witch looming over him, and shot me a questioning look. I shrugged in response and he nodded, taking the stuff out of the dorm.

"Come on, people," I told them, "Play time's over."

"Play time?" Klaus yelled, half in pain, half incredulously, "What of that was play time? You people like to torture me! I don't know why I stick around!"

Ashley raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, there's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out." She picked up his black leather boots from the ground. "Are you ready boots?" she asked to the boots, tossing them to him, "Start walking."

The oddest part had to be, not that she knew the lyric to Nancy Sinatra's song -no, that was completely normal for Ashley- but that the boots actually began to walk over to Klaus when she missed him on her toss. I stared at the boots as they, one by one, step by step, walked over to their owner. It was downright creepy. If you could have seen it, you would have shuttered.

"Look, I'm sorry I killed your parents! I didn't know they had a daughter." Ashley rolled her eyes.

"Well, if you hadn't killed them, you would have found that out."

"Well I'm sorry!" was his brilliant retort. He clutched his head, crying out again. "Make it stop!" he commanded her.

She smirked, blowing a pink bubble out of her bubble gum and said, "Don't feel like it." Meanwhile, the boots were following his every step. It was like a dance. A strange, hilarious, downright creepy dance that if I wasn't dead, I'd go to a psychiatrist about.

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An hour later, she must have decided to put him out of his misery. The boots were sitting proudly by the door as Ashley sat smugly on the top of the counter, legs crossed at the knee, eating popcorn out of a bowl that I know we didn't own. She saw me looking a grinned largely. "Want some?"

I might have looked at her like she was crazy. Just a little bit, I promise. But crazy all the same. I shook my head. She sighed and with a quick flash of light, the bowl disappeared.

"Did you steal someone's popcorn?" I asked her. She looked at me offended.

"Of course not! What kind of person do you think I am?" She surveyed the now empty living room. "I was borrowing it. I had every intention of returning it."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you have everything?"

"I just need to send a couple of things to our new house," she told me, walking into her bedroom and I saw a brighter, longer flash of light before she walked out. "All done."

"You sent your whole room, didn't you?" She shrugged. "Ash! We all packed and moved, not zapped things to places."

"Po-ta-to, po-tat-o. To-ma-to, to-mot-o." She tossed her head back, looking at me from over her shoulder, besides, that's your fault you're not a witch, not mine.


	4. Chapter 3- Elena

"Elena," a voice said from within my dream. I turned, looking for her. I knew it had to be a her. I was in a forest. I knew this forest, somewhat. It was more grown and less familiar, but it was the same one that we used to walk through to go to the Gilbert Manor ruins when we were younger. I began to walk.

"Hello?" I called out, "Hello?"

There was nothing. I was alone. Why am I alone? She, the voice, she should be here somewhere. "Where are you?" I shouted.

"It's lovely to meet you, Elena," the voice said from behind me. I jumped, turning to face a woman who looked like a cross between Katherine and I, her hair not quite as curly as Katherine's and not as loose as mine.

"Who are you?" She smiled slightly at me.

"You already know that." I looked at her confused.

"I do?" I asked uncertainly. She smiled sadly, and nodded. I thought for a moment, wondering who she might be. "You're dead!" I exclaimed, realizing who she was.

"But so are you, young Elena." I stared at her in shock. "The night I died, I said and did many things I regret. I did many things I have regretted, even to this day."

"Where are we going?" I asked her. Tatia grinned back at me.

"There's something you should see!" she told me, lifting her heavy skirts and running. I was easily able to jog after her. It seemed like it was too soon that we stopped, and she stood in front of a tree.

"What-?" I began. She reached out, placing her hand on the tree's trunk.

"This tree is over a thousand years old," she told me. "Klaus planted it for me in lieu of a headstone or memorial." I stared at her hardly comprehending what she was saying. "When they we mortal, Rebekah and I were great friends. Klaus and I, we were…" she paused, as if trying to find the right words to say, "friends, very dear friends. I loved him so much."

"He said they fought over you, him and Elijah."

"And I let them," she admitted, ashamed. "I loved the power it gave me, to have two handsome men fighting over you, you should at least understand that. Those Salvatore brother fought long and hard over you." She looked at the tree, like it held every answer in the world. "Klaus, he is not been the man he has was for a long time. The man he is today because of you is much closer to the man I knew, the man I loved and who loved me so unconditionally that it only seemed to be one of the great wonders of this world. I was the reason he became a- a monster, so to speak. The things I said to him that night, yet he still thinks of me fondly, despite tearing him and his brother apart."

"Are you dead dead?" I asked her. Her face was grim as she nodded.

"I was allowed a bit of time to ask you to take care of him for me, even though I never did. He's a lot like your Damon in many ways." I cringed at her term 'your _Damon_ '. Obviously Tatia hadn't gotten the 'he left me and didn't say goodbye' message. "Don't give me that look," she said, "I can see what's happening on Earth, but I can't interfere. He thought he was doing the right thing by leaving you and now he doesn't know how to return." I raised my eyebrow at her.

"So then where is he now? Why hasn't he come back? Surely Caroline or Alaric would have let it slip that I stabbed myself with a knife because I lost track of what was reality because I was so depressed."

"Dear Elena," she said, reaching out to me and placing a fond, motherly hand to the side of my face, "you never told them what you did and Klaus did a very good job of covering things up for you. Only your roommates even know. Not even the doctors who treated you remember."

My lips parted in understanding as she pulled back her hand. Klaus said he had taken care of it. I just had never understood how well he had taken care of it. Tatia looked up at the dark sky, curiously.

"The moon is full tonight," she said softly, "I've missed that sight so much. I could always feel something deep in my veins stirring inside me whenever the moon was full like that."

"You were a werewolf?" I asked her, but she shook her head.

"No, just empathetic with the moon. Rebekah and I were opposites in that way. I rose with the moon, she rose with the sun, and together we were the sun and the moon." Suddenly the name of the fake curse that Klaus had chosen made sense. He loved Rebekah, yes. Despite everything, he had tried to protect her from himself. He loved Tatia more than anything in the world. He had named the fake curse after them.

"So what now then?" I asked softly as I gazed at the giant white and gray orb, feeling it's light for the first time without the feel of fur.

"Now you go back and you live!" she told me dreamily. "You live each day to its fullest, and never have any regrets, because I did and look at the mess I caused. Now wake up."

I groan escaped my lips as I stirred on the bed. I turned, and looked angrily at the time. 4:15 a.m. "Noooo!"

The air shifted around me. I blinked in the darkness, seeing a face before me. "Are you alright?" the voice asked, concerned, "You were screaming then you wouldn't wake up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes directed themselves towards the voice and I located Klaus' face and nodded. I noted that he had a bottle of water in his hand, holding it like he was ready to throw it at me. "I just had a strange dream."

"Want to talk about it?" he asked, but I shook my head.

"I want to go back to sleep. It's too early. I have another twenty minutes before Ashley gets up and starts making coffee so…"

Klaus chuckled quietly, patting my shoulder fondly and placing a soft kiss to my temple. "Good night, Elena. Sweet dreams."

I never heard him leave the room, I was already back asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, we like totally need to get you a new wardrobe. I'm thinking sexy, but sophisticated. Classy, but understated. Dark, but not too dark. Dramatic, but-"

"Can we get this show on the road?" I asked Ashley as we walked through the mall in Atlanta. We had used our free weekend to drive over here. This was our last day here and I had gotten 'an unsatisfactory amount of clothing'. She insisted that I hadn't let her formally welcome me to my "new undead life". I had managed to hold her back for seven months, telling her it would be harder to move if I bought more clothes. Finally, I told her 'sure, why not?' Now, I see I unleashed a monster. Personally, I thought she was crazy, but thought maybe I could go to that bar _Damon_ had taken me to that time I was here. Maybe Bree would know where he was.

"Why?" She cocked her hip and placed a hand on it, wiggling her eyebrows at me, "Hot date?"

I rolled my eyes, pulling a leather jacket from a rack and holding it up in front of me while facing a mirror. "This seems to be the undead accessory of choice," I commented, "Like, every vampire I know seems to have one. Even Klaus has one."

"Except Edward." I looked at her like she was crazy, which she was. It just seemed today she was more crazy than usual. "You know, the sparkly vampire wannabe?"

Two girls heard us and glared. "What about the faker?" I asked.

"Well, he's obviously not a real vampire. He broads all the time and…" she looked nervously at me, "I hate to say it, but that one picture you showed me of Stefan, they looked alike. It's like you were dating Edward's hotter, older actual vampire brother." I rolled my eyes. One of the two girls came up to us.

"Excuse you," she said, "But Edward is the hottest guy on the planet. You wouldn't know a real vampire if you met one. You're just jealous because you're going to end up bitter and alone."

I snorted. "Listen kid, I've had an absolutely miserable year, past five years really. I've met at least thirty real vampires. Most of them are not friendly and do bite. And when they bite, they don't leave you for dead, they finish you off then and there. My ex-boyfriend was a vampire. Three of my best friends are vampires. My brother dated two vampires, then cheated on his witch girlfriend with the ghost on one of his dead vampire girlfriends. I live in the same house as a vampire- er- hybrid vampire. My doppelganger is a vampire. My mother and aunt were both vampires. One of my father's great uncle's is a vampire." I grabbed her chin, "You will take your stuff and check out. You will forget you saw me or her." Then I told her friend the same.

"Someone's touchy today," Ashley sang as we left the store.

"Last night was a full moon," I growled at her. As I said this, I realized why that made a difference in the events that had occurred this morning. It was no wonder why Klaus was up so early. Normally he sleeps like the dead, no pun intended, but it takes Ashley and I pour wolf's bane and vervain on him get him up, or Ashley setting random body parts on fire. I swear his ear is scarred because of her.

"Yes, I realize that. How did you get yourself not to transform?" She asked and I shrugged. I still wasn't at a year of full moons yet. I didn't really control phasing and not phasing. "Ooh! Look at those shoes. They're red and like six inches and sparkly! They're like chocolate and ice cream and Christmas all mix in one!"

I shook my head at her. "And you figure that how?"

She shrugged, smiling largely at me like a child instead of a twenty-two year old woman, and skipped over to the shoe display inside the fancy, snooty store. She waved a sales person over. "I'd like to try on those red heels in a size 5 please."

"Look little girl, go get your mommy and don't come back," the sales woman said superciliously as she turned back around to help a woman who looked like she smelt something bad. I grabbed her shoulder.

"I believe my friend asked you to get her something. I suggest you go now before I go talk to your boss and then you'll be the one looking for work." Maybe the woman heard it in the tone of my voice, or smelt it in my new perfume, or saw it in the diamond encrusted red gold watch- a birthday gift from Ashley, but she nodded and went into the backroom, bringing out the red shoes that Ashley had wanted.

I knew my tiny blonde friend may not look like much, but she had grown up with her wealthy great uncle after her parents died. When he died, she was sent to live with some third cousins who hated her because her Uncle Tom left her everything he owned. On the other hand, Ashley acts very unspoiled, but in reality, she grew up like a princess.

"What do you think, Elena?" she asked me, standing up and twirling around. "Aren't they just perfect? Won't they look wonderful with that dress I just bought, the white and gold one with the slit up the side? I'm thinking they would be. After all, Natalia and Natasha's Christmas party is in five and a half weeks and I must top last year's look." Ashley was know for looking extravagant at the twin sisters Natalia and Natasha's annual Christmas party. It was the to go to party and anyone who was anyone or knew anyone went. Needless to say, I went with Ashley the past few years.

A loud ringing broke me free of my thoughts.

"Hello?"

"Hello Elena! Okay, so one, how many people are coming with you? I need to know how much to buy for Thanksgiving and all that stuff. Are you still coming? When are you coming? Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? Do you have a date? Do you have a boyfriend? Who is he? Is he hot? Do I know him?" Caroline spit out at about a dozen miles per hour.

"Okay, Care, breathe. I have two other people coming with me and yes, I am coming, on Monday. I don't have a date or boyfriend. My friend Ashley is coming with me with her boyfriend, Danny," I told Caroline slowly.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, "I'm just like super excited. So last night was the full moon and all, so Tyler and I are back together, so he asked me to help chain him in the old Lockwood cellar. You know, he phases to keep himself from being 'sired' and all. Well, after the moon went down, like after five in the morning and he phased back, he's like 'Caroline, I can't spend my forever if I don't have you by my side that entire time.' Then he's down on one knee asking me to marry him."

"And you said?"

"I said 'yes, of course', silly!"

"Care! That's great!" I say to her, all but grinding my teeth together as I begin to wander as Ashley begins to replenish her shoe closet muttering something about cleaning out for New Years. "Congrats."

"Thanks!" she practically chirps. "I've been calling everyone. There's so much I have to do before he and I can get married. There's Thanksgiving and Christmas. And don't you worry. We'll get you a boyfriend when you're here. Are there any guys you like? Any cute one in your classes?"

I could have staked myself. Multiple times. With a pencil. A very, very dull pencil.

Yes, Caroline, the dumb oblivious blonde you can sometimes be, I am in love with a man named _Damon Salvatore_. Remember him? He took off almost four years ago and never said goodbye to me. Yes, him, the man who was supposedly in love with me. You know, the one who sired you, whose brother I dated. The guy who protected me and told me he'd never leave me again. The one who told me he loved me, despite knowing I loved Stefan. Yeah, him. That guy.

To top that off, the man, who only wanted me alive was for my blood to sire his freak race of were-vampires, turned me into a vampire. One that's also a hybrid, just like him and your fiancé, because no one really knew that the Gilberts had the werewolf gene too. Go figure. Oh, yes, he also my roommate. And he's been in love with the same dead girl for a millennia, but she and my dead family members all keep implying that he's going to fall in love with me. By the way, she's like Katherine's several times great-grandmother, which makes her my even more several times great-grandmother. Oh yeah, she also was the first doppelganger.

When did my life become so messed up?

"HELLO? Elena? Are you still there?" I stare straight ahead, and rubbed my eyes, unsure of what- no of whom I'm seeing.

"I have to go, Care," I say softly, "See next week."

I hang up the phone, glancing towards my witch roomie before stalking towards the familiar face.


	5. Chapter 4- Elena

"Stefan?" I choke out and he turned quickly.

"Katherine," he greeted dully, "Why do you look so surprised? We were bound to run into each other again eventually."

I bit my tongue as he turned back to the man he was talking to, someone unfamiliar, but at the same time, completely familiar. I had forgotten I had stopped straightening my hair. I better put that on the to-do list for when I go back home.

"What's the matter, Katerina? Don't you know me?" the man asked. I snorted.

"No," I said, because if Katherine can pretend to be me, I can pretend to be Katherine, "Do you know how many men I've met? If it knew you, you're hardly more than a distant dream."

I smirk at both of the men. Of course they'd think I was Katherine now, with no heartbeat and all. I'll have to check if Ashley can't do something about that for Thanksgiving. Battery operated heart, anyone?

"So what are you doing here, Katherine?" Stefan asked me and I strut past him into the Starbucks, ordering some triple chai latte, or something along the lines of that and paying by cash. I didn't dare let either of my two credit card names come up, Ashley FitzGerald or Klaus Smith (his new name of choice for the time being), both who insisted on paying for everything until I get on my feet for eternity.

I turned to Stefan, cocking my hip and smirked. "I could ask you the same, lover," I purred, using the same tone and term of endearment that Katherine had so many times. I hold up my bags, "I'm shopping! I've got to kill time somehow before any good clubs open."

"So this is how you outran my brother for centuries?" the man asked me, "Shopping and going to night clubs?" I shrugged, feeling my insides begin to knot. An Original. "Well, I suppose it must be an effective method."

"Of course," I told him, adding a bit of a swing into my hips, glad I wore the tight black jeans and heels. I looked very Katherine-ish; neither would suspect a thing.

"So where are you headed to next?" the man asked, almost as if he was flirting with me.

"Over to that store over there." I pointed to the store Ashley was in, looking up at him from under my eyelashes. He really was handsome, and if Katherine could flirt with every man she met, why could I not flirt with every man I met pretending to be her? "I need a new pair of heels."

Fortunately, at that moment, the real Katherine, ironically dressed as 'me', walked into that store, bugging Ashley to go and trying to convince her that she put the bags in the car. I'm really very proud of Ashley. She didn't tell Katherine that she was acting like a whiny human, because she probably was, or ask her how she turned back to a human. She simply met my eyes for less than a split second and took Katherine's arm, tossing on of her new hats on my doppelganger's head (twenties inspired, of course- another Ashleyism), and nearly dragged her from the store and away from Stefan or unknown Original Numero Uno.

"You!" I yelled when I got home, poking Klaus in the chest, "This," I said, motioning to all the bags, "is all YOUR fault!"

"What now?" he groaned. The hybrid stared at me. "You went shopping with Ashley, no?"

"Yes, except guess which vampire ex-boyfriend and his newly resurrected Original buddy was there? Oh yeah, guess who they thought I was?"

"Katerina, I suppose. Stefan is too young to have known Tatia. So which of my should be dead family members was there?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You really expect me to know all of your family members? I've met a whole four of you until today!"

Klaus rolled his eyes, taking my shopping bags from me and disappearing for a second. "You sound like you could use a drink."

"Yes please," I groaned, laying my head on my arms as Klaus played bartender and mixed blood and bourbon together. He slid the drink in front of me and I lifted my head. "I thought you didn't have to turn into a wolf during the full moon." He looked at me confused, so I continued, "You're never up before 8 am unless you're going through the whole transformation."

His face showed he understood what I meant. "I haven't been hunting, love," he told me, "That only works if you're having fresh human blood more than you're having these things," he said, waving the empty blood bag around like it was some sort of flag.

"Oh," was my intelligent response. Why had one of the most evil, selfish, do whatever he wants were-vampires stopped hunting and feeding off of humans? It's because of you, a tiny voice in my head claimed.

No, I fought back; it was one thing when we were saying that with _Damon_. He used to love us, but it's a different thing to say that with Klaus. He loves Tatia. He loves only Tatia. And she's dead.

Can't someone love more than one person at a time? That tiny, persistent voice reasoned.

"So how come I didn't turn?" Klaus shrugged.

"You are a very controlled hybrid for some reason. It's almost as if you were born to live this sort of life."

"I've slipped up," I pointed out.

"It would be unnatural if you didn't, sweetheart. We all slip up more than once over the course of eternity." There was something in the air that was making me restless and edgy.

"Do you want to watch some T.V.?" I asked, trying to break the tension that was growing thick in the room, "I think Breaking Dawn Part One is supposed to be on. We can make fun of how wrong their facts are." Klaus chuckled, the tension dissolving instantly.

It was hours later when Ashley walked in. I was leaning against Klaus, my head on his shoulder, as we picked apart the Twilight Saga movies.

"You're welcome," Ashley growled at me. Klaus raised an eyebrow.

"I forgot to mention," I told them, "The real Katherine showed up, but Stefan and whoever didn't see her. She still thought I am human, by the looks of it."

The Original nodded, turning to Ashley. "So what did you do with her?"

"I despelled her bracelet. It was funny. Then I used the ol' dead witches. Did you know there's this abandoned bar with a ton of angry witch energy? I let her take care of it."

"Her?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, Bree the witch-ghost." I looked up at her, eyes wide. Bree? Like the Bree _Damon_ had- "Oh yeah, and your Damon better never go in there or she might actually kill him. He sure knows how to make enemies."

Ashley always called _Damon_ 'my _Damon_ ', but for some reason, it made me feel sick to hear it this time. Almost like I was human again… and getting a very bad stomachache.


	6. Chapter 5- Elena

"Elena! You're here!" Caroline screamed asked she hugged me. "Hi!" she said, hugging Ashley. Ashley gave her a good-natured pat, but she was hypersensitive about being touched, especially by strangers. "You must be Ashley. It's so nice to _finally_ meet you."

It was a pretty funny sight, to see Caroline and Ashley side by side. Caroline had a foot on Ashley, despite her five-inch heels. I smiled at my best friend. Caroline, I knew, had nothing to do with _Damon_ leaving. She was the last to know and so was Tyler. They had been up at the lake house trying to go and fix their relationship. When they came back for Christmas, over a week later, they were very absorbed in their own little world. A few months ago they fought and broke up and apparently got back together.

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The permanent cold I had felt over my last months as a human was gone now. I was loved here in Mystic Falls, by my family that all joined back together. Sure I was loved back in North Carolina, inside our little makeshift family, but here I had my family from when I was still human. And I felt human again. Ever since I turned, I've been on edge. I've been acting like what Caroline would call "The Old Elena". Normal. Things felt normal. Well, as normal as Mystic Falls could be. Especially with two witches, a vampire, two hybrids, a vampire hunter, and four humans at the table.

Alaric had a new girlfriend at the table, Meredith Fell, who is a doctor at the hospital. Bonnie had a boyfriend, Jamie. Jeremy even had a nice artist girl. Everyone was paired up, except me.

I never realized how lonely it was. When it was just Ashley and Danny and I, we were more like three best friends. They didn't let their relationship make me feel left out any more than I would have. If they went out on dates, Ashley made sure it was somewhere I could go along as well. Once Klaus came into the picture, he helped me study or we'd watch movies or whatnot when they went out.

Here, I truly was the loner. Seeing Stefan had only fermented my belief that he was gone and wasn't coming back. The fact that he was resurrecting the Originals wasn't a good thing. Klaus told me his other two sibling's names, Kol and Finn. The one I had met was Kol; at least that's what we had deducted from my description of the man and Klaus' memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Morning!" a voice said a bit too cheerfully for this early.

"Go away, Ashley," I muttered, "I'll have my coffee later. Put something strong in it."

"Elena!" a second one sang and I jumped up, facing Caroline and Bonnie.

"Why are you people up so early?" I groaned. "I stopped rising with the sun and all when I started taking night classes two years ago." Bonnie laughed.

"All four of us are going up to the Falls, then to see the ruins. Ashley was curious. She said you told her about them." I had, in fact, told her about them once three years ago before we went to Danny's family's house for Thanksgiving last year. Between his brother flirting with me and Ashley and Danny fighting with Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, it was a disaster.

So the four of us headed out, the three of them talking about their respective boyfriends, telling the others how great said boyfriends were. I bit my tongue. I never thought I'd actually think it, but I missed Klaus. He had somehow become my best friend over these months. I didn't worship the ground he walked on and wouldn't do whatever he said, not like Tyler or any other hybrid did. We had synthesized that this was because I was the doppelganger, and me being a hybrid was a strange phenomenon that wasn't supposed to happen. It was a theory.

"So how much of Mystic Falls' history did Elena tell you?" Bonnie asked.

"She told me about the Battle of Willow Creek and how the town was founded and about the Founding Families and the Falls." I was hardly listening to their words as I spotted a golden-brown wolf, looking straight at me. He sent a smirk in my direction before motioning with his head to follow him, the gesture so familiar I nearly laughed, but instead, I turned back to my friends, keeping an eye on that lone wolf. 

"Hey, guys," I said to them, "I'm going to head back to the car. I'm not feeling so good."

They offered to cancel their 'trip' or to come with me, but I shook my head, smiled, and lied. Ashley looked at me worriedly. Being she was the only one to know my secret in this little outing, her concern was only natural. "Elena, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure. I think I might be a bit dehydrated. I left my drink in the car."

"Okay," Caroline said, convinced, "We'll be at the old Lockwood cellar at noon or a bit after. If you feel up to it, you can meet us there."

I nodded and waved, beginning to walk in the direction of the car. As I walked, the wolf I had seen earlier, Klaus, came up to me, nudging my leg in the other direction. When I didn't immediately respond, he made a whining sound and pulled at my pant leg.

"Just a minute, okay? I'm starving!" He made a barking sound at me, one that I quickly recognized as laughter. "You brought something to eat, didn't you?" I questioned him. His head made a jerking nodded and I sighed. "Fine, lead the way."

He took off at an unnatural speed and I followed. We soon arrived at our intended destination; at least, I think I was our intended destination. It was a bunch of trees, with some more trees, and a few more trees. I stared at him, but Klaus pawed the ground for me to stay, so I rolled my eyes and leaned back against one of the many trees while he disappeared for a moments behind some more trees and some shrubs. Moments later, he reappeared in human form, fully clothed, and tossed me a blood bag.

"Drink up, I brought a cooler full of it." I tore opened up the little straw on it and began to suck down it's contents.

"Ah!" I moaned as I finished, "You are my favorite person at the moment!" Klaus snorted and rolled his beautiful eyes. "So what's with the wolf form just then?"

"I did not think your friends would take too kindly to seeing me. I didn't think you or Ashley would appreciate it." I shrugged. We sat in peace for a while. I drank, he sat beside me and we just let ourselves be.

"Is it weird that I, like really want to dance around like a crazy person?" I asked after my eighth blood bag.

"No, but you might want to contemplate tapping a vein instead. I think the blood banks are beginning to run short. I considered just driving one of those Big Red Buses here, staff and all." I threw the empty blood bag, the one I had just finished, at him.

"Oh shut up!" I shrieked, tackling him. Klaus rolled them over, but I pushed him back, coming at him with a branch turned stake. He knocked the branch from my hands and I tried to land a punch. Klaus rolled his eyes, spinning me before he pinned me to the ground.

"I win," he whispered, both panting hard as we lay parallel to the ground, Klaus on top of me. Neither of us needed to breath, but the rush of adrenaline that came with our sparring sessions left us feeling human again.

Something in the air seemed to shift. Klaus' eyes looked bluer to me and I had never really noticed just how gold his hair was. Klaus stared into my eyes with such intensity, making me feel as if I was the only doppelganger to ever exist, or at least the best of all the doppelgangers to exist. I don't know whose lips touched who's first, whether I had lifted my head slightly to brush my lips to his, or if he had bent his head down just a bit so that our mouths met. I only knew that one minute, we had been recovering from the sparring sessions that always left us breathless, then the next, my hands were tangled into his short, silky hair and Klaus had his arms wrapped around my body.

My worst fears, or greatest desire- I wasn't sure which, was recognized in the kiss. I love Klaus. Despite everything he had done, I love him. But, I'm also fairly certain that Klaus feels the same way. It seemed as if the werewolves inside both of us were fighting one another for control, and yet at the same time, the kiss was tender and perfect, like the last kiss I had shared with _Damon._

_Damon,_ my mind yelled, _did you forget about him?_

_It's okay to love them both._

I almost snorted out loud. Somehow, I don't think this is quite what Katherine had in mind.

"Elena!"


	7. Chapter 6- Elena

Klaus rolled off me instantly, jumping up, glaring down the person who had found us. "You really do hate me, don't you, Ashley?"

"Of course." Her eyes flickered to me, where I was moving off the ground and brushing myself off. "I wondered how she could get sick or not feel well. I suppose now I know."

She turned and began to walk away. I knew my roommate well enough to know when she was mad, though her indifferent façade said otherwise. "Ash, we've never…" I begun, not sure where to end that sentence, "Not before."

That was my lame defence. My roommate just walk in on me and the guy who had taken so much away from both of us kissing. But I was torn. Klaus wasn't the same guy who did all those things. Tatia herself had said so. But at the same time, he was and in Ashley's mind, he'd always be the man who killed her parents.

"Ash," I tried again, "he's changed."

"Yeah, I'm sure he has, Elena."

"He killed my parents too, Ashley. You don't see me reacting like that."

"Really?" she said in a surprised voice, "I thought you were the reason they died. Did you think that maybe it's not Klaus that's changed, but you?" I didn't even have the strength to follow her. She was right. On both accounts, she was right. It was my fault they had died, all of them. And I had changed. Yes, Klaus had changed, but I had changed too. I had changed a lot. I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I jerked it away.

"Elena, I-" I could see it in his eyes, in his voice. He was desperate, imploring me to forgive him, to not throw him away like Tatia had. His face showed nothing though, most of the time, it never did. It was always his eyes and voice.

"Don't touch me!" I still found myself snapping, "I- I just can't do this right now."

His heartbroken look almost made me stop as I turned around and began walking. I just couldn't think right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mom?" I whispered to the gravestone, placing the flowers I purchased in front of it. "It's Elena. I know I haven't been here in a while. I miss you both so much." I sat down facing their grave, much like I used to. "I'm so confused. I really wish you guys were here with me. I love you. Say hi to Daddy and Jenna and John and Isobel for me. Tell them I love them and miss them, but not to worry too much about me. And tell John and Daddy not to keep secrets from me next time around." I choked back a bitter laugh. "It doesn't work well for anyone. All it does is make a mess of everything."

"Elena?" I snapped my head around to see Tyler.

"What are you-?" I started.

"Uncle Mason is buried over at the Lockwood plot. Sometimes it helps to bounce ideas off a gravestone of a dead family member who you know isn't going to bounce back any sharp remarks." I laughed, the sound coming out tearful and jaded. "So what's up with you?"

"Just general 'my life is a mess'. I think Ashley hates me."

"What did you do? Sleep with her boyfriend?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"I might have well with the look she gave me."

"What did you do?" Tyler seemed so innocent; it was easy to believe he and Klaus didn't share a connection anymore.

"Random girl drama, for the most part," I lied. I turned to him. "So how are you? I mean like really, _how are you_?"

"It's hard, I won't lie. But there's good things too. As long as I keep a healthy diet of human blood and transform regularly to keep them as painless as possible, I have no bond to Klaus, because I don't owe him anything. We tried animal blood and it made my transforms more painful then when I was just a werewolf." I smiled sadly at him. I knew the feeling all too well. "But Caroline's dad, he was really good about making me learn how to get it to not hurt. You missed the rest after you skipped town after graduation, you know." I nodded, looking at my shoes. There was my how. It explained why I had no bond to Klaus. I owed him nothing. I wasn't a werewolf before, so I didn't go through the pain. I wanted to die, and he saved me, so that made me doubly not owing Klaus. "I'm just so thirsty all the time. It's hard to control it. I don't know how Caroline stands it."

"I see there's a new coffee shop in town." Tyler shot me a quizzical look.

"Where'd coffee come from?"

"Columbia, I think, or maybe Brazil," I mused, earning a chuckle from Tyler.

"I meant, where did the topic come from?"

"It's a harmless subject that has nothing to do with anything supernatural. I think it's safe to say we're both emotionally crippled at the moment for a number of various reasons." I glanced down the street, almost hoping _Damon_ would appear out of nowhere.

"I saw Katherine." I looked at him oddly, "She was scared," he continued, "I think Stefan's resurrecting the Originals and is going to tell the world about vampires, at least, that's what I got from her frightened ramblings."

"And when exactly have you been seeing Katherine?" I asked in a half dead voice.

"The other day, when Caroline and I went to Richmond to buy more food. She saw us and was begging Caroline to do something to stop Stefan. She also went on to say that a crazy witch sent her to be tortured by some dead witch and that she thinks the crazy witch is working with Stefan."

I nodded. "Next subject please," I said softly, "Talking about Stefan is too close to…"

Tyler nodded awkwardly, "Right. So how are you, Elena? How have you been managing?"

"Good days and bad. I've been healing, slowly, but healing all the same. I used to lose sense of reality and memories and stuff I just made up in my head. It got to the point where Ashley was going to have me checked into a mental hospital, or at least go see a psychiatrist."

"What made you start to feel better?" I shrugged.

"The fear of not wanting to go to a psychiatrist or a mental hospital. I can only imagine what would happen now. 'Hi, I'm Elena Gilbert. I'm here because my ex-boyfriend's brother who was my sort-of-but-not-official boyfriend left me. Did I mention my ex-boyfriend is a vampire who has gone off the deep end? Oh, and his brother is an almost two hundred year old vampire who fought in the Civil War. No, I'm not crazy!'" Tyler chuckled.

"Yeah, that would be difficult to explain. It would be like me. 'Hi, I'm Tyler Lockwood and I'm a hybrid. So basically, I'm a werewolf and a vampire. Hey, can you put me in a straight jacket now?'" I laughed too, feeling better than I had since Ashley walked in on Klaus and I. "Caroline's going to kill us."

"Why?" He held up his phone. The time read six ten.

"I didn't think I'd been out here that long. Well, I did go and stand and talk to each one of them." Tyler shook his head.

"Come on, let's get back. I don't want her to kill us. I like being an undead werewolf. It's not the sort of thing you see in horror movies."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I walked in the door, I was greeted by a hug. "I'm sorry, 'Lena. I over reacted." I embraced Ashley back, letting the tiny blonde pixy know that it was okay. "I shouldn't have said what I said."

"It's fine, Ash." She shook her head.

"I shouldn't have said that about your parents. I was hurt and wanted to lash out at you one of the only ways I knew how." I nodded.

"It's okay. Really, it is."

"Then why are you so melancholy?" she asked softly. I looked down at her.

"Can you cover for me here? Tell them I went to Grove Hill to see Isobel's grave. Tell them I went to find Isobel's parents, to meet them. There's something that I need to go see about and I need it to stay silent." She squeezed my hand reassuringly, another Ashleyism, before dropping it.

"No worries. I won't tell."

"One more thing. I need to borrow your car."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dressed in black jeans that hugged my legs and every curve, a pair of high-heeled ankle boots, a red halter-top, and a leather jacket, I entered the bar. The bar, which I had been directed to by one of Katherine's little playthings, was a vampire bar. It held a crowd that wasn't too pretty, but a group that would follow Katherine to the ends of the earth. At the same time, they looked like upper class for the most part, the upper class of another century. People of influence… power…

"Bourbon, neat," I ordered.

"Right away, Miss Pierce," the bartender said to me. I rolled my eyes.

"She's not Katherine," a voice in the corner said.

"No, I'm not," I said to the man, "so I think you should bring her here right now."

The man stood up and approached me. He was older, like mid-fifties, but was obviously a vampire. "I don't have any nerve for _children_ telling me what to do."

"And I have less nerve for people who don't just do as they're told. Don't you know who I am?" I turned to the bartender as he came out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the older man shake his head for the kid to go back, but he didn't before setting my drink down. I grabbed the boy's wrist into my hand. "Nice boy. Your kid?" I asked the older man. He could hear the threat in my voice. I let my features wolf out, biting into son's wrist. "He has approximately two days before he goes insane from the poison. Then only a few hours after that before his body shuts down completely, maybe much less. I want Katherine standing here before that time, or he can die." I had no intentions of actually letting the kid die, but the man didn't need to know that. All he needed to know was the skin that I had bit had healed and was now festering up, red and angry, just like any werewolf bite I had seen.

He began ordering the others in what I could only assume to be Italian and they began to leave, some getting into cars, some just disappearing through the doors. Soon, the place was buzzing noisily. Everyone wanted to know, the doppelganger? A werewolf? A vampire? Both? All three?

"Say, you look familiar," I said to the boy. "Do I know you?" He shook his head.

"No, miss." The poor boy was terrified. He looked to be only about sixteen or seventeen when he was turned.

"What's your name?" I asked his gently.

"Antonio DeSangue." I nodded, noting the obvious fake name. Well, it was a real name, but it wasn't his. I could tell. "I go by Anthony, miss."

"So you bartend for a living. Fun," I said sarcastically. Yup, I had spent far too much time with Klaus over the course of the past year. My sarcastic tone matched his sarcastic tone almost to a T.

"So what do you do, miss?"

"I'm in college at the moment. I'm a writer."

"Why do you look like Miss Pierce?" I turned to him. He had messy, light brown hair, almost an auburn color and blue grey eyes. He kind of looked like if _Damon_ and Klaus had mixed themselves together and put a sweet, innocent child in that body. That's all Antonio/ Anthony was.

"I'm her doppelganger, which is basically just saying that I look like her. It's a pain in the butt. I hate it."

"Why do you hate it?" he asked me.

"Because when I was human, she used to pretend to be me. She doesn't know I'm a vampire yet though, so she pretended to be me thinking I was still human. My friend notice though and she tricked Katherine," I told him with a small smile, reassuring him with my face and eyes that I wasn't going to let him die. He relaxed a little, smiling back at me. I cut into my wrist with a pocketknife, letting the blood trickle into a cup before the wound healed. My blood would never have worked as a cure if I weren't the doppelganger. I wasn't Klaus, but I was special still. "So that man is your father, huh?"

"Yes, miss," Anthony nodded.

"He seems vaguely familiar," I told Anthony, "Why do you call me 'miss'?" I asked him suddenly.

"You are married?" he asked softly, confused, cocking his head in such a _Damon_ -like mannerism that I nearly thought I was looking at his younger, blonder twin.

"No," I said, shaking my head, touching Isobel's necklace that lay on my chest, "Definitely not married."

"You seem too young to be a ma'am." I laughed softly.

"I'm twenty-two, biologically."

"I'm one hundred seventy, biologically," he with a grin. I did the math in my head, counting backwards.

"You were turned in 1864?" I breathed, realization coming to me. What if _Damon_ and Stefan had a younger brother and that was why this boy seemed so familiar? And that man… that man was Giuseppe Salvatore. He had to be. It was the only explanation. When he nodded, it erased my doubts. _Sort of._

I pulled a pen from my jacket, taking a napkin and writing on it, 'When Katherine gets here, how would you like to come with me back to my home?'

He looked down, reading it. "You mean it, miss?" I nodded. "That would be very incredible, miss."

'Meet me outside after this, ok?' I wrote and he nodded.

Moments later, the man that could only be Giuseppe Salvatore stepped into the bar again. Behind him was three or four vampires… and Katherine. "I brought you Miss Pierce," he said, "Now heal my son."

I handed Anthony the cup, which he drank, then left the room quickly. Katherine walked over to me, studying me. "Well, well, well, my little doppelganger is all grown up."

"Yes, which is why Ashley did what she did when I suddenly _aged backwards_. She was less than thrilled when she came home. I could hardly hear the T.V. over her ranting about it." Katherine flinched.

"That crazy witch is your friend?"

"And roommate," I told the five hundred something year old vampire, lounging casually against the bar. "But Tyler Lockwood made an interesting comment to me earlier. He said that you thought that Stefan was resurrecting Originals and was going to tell the world about vampires."

"He tried to get me to join him," she said, not understand where I was going with this. I closed my eyes and dropped my face into my hand, breathing in deeply, trying to control my anger. This wasn't good, not good at all. The other hand was still gripping the pen, which broke as my hand tightened around it.

"You're a vampire," she stated, her eyes narrowed, "When did that happen?"

"Last January," I sighed out, opening my eyes to look at her, standing. "I need to make a phone call."

I began to walk out, but she followed me, taunting, "To whom? Your witch friend? Do your little friends in Mystic Falls know you're a vampire?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, Katherine, I proclaimed it from the tops of buildings. 'World, I am a vampire!'" She ignored my sarcastic remark, circling me like a vulture as I stood.

"Well, your sense of fashion has improved drastically."

"Well, I have the money to dress in the clothes I want to wear now," I shot back as she followed me.

"Who are you going to call?" She taunted, "It can't possibly be Damon. I've heard all extremes of rumors of how depressed you were about him leaving from the last time I saw you. You were very broody and sad and mopey, some said. Others said that you stabbed yourself, trying to kill yourself. Some say that succeeded, other say that didn't. They never say _who_ turned you though. That's who you're calling, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, Katherine. Would you like to say hello?" I said in the most sickening sweet voice I had. She snatched the phone from me as it rang and waiting for the other end to pick up.

Klaus never said hello first. I knew now would prove no different, especially after earlier.

"Hello," Katherine purred, "Who is this?" I bit my tongue to keep from laughing. I could only hope the Original knew I'd never talk like that to him… ever.

"Zdravei, Katerina," I heard him say.

"Klaus!" Katherine squeaked as she dropped the phone, trying to hang up, but I scooped it from the floor, laughing.

"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier," I said softly. I could almost hear him nodding and I knew he wasn't mad, just hurt. Well, that's what I was hoping at least. I would make it up to him when I got home, when I took Katherine there.

"Ashley filled me in."

"I kind of figured. So yup, the rumors are true. Stefan tried to recruit her." I looked at Katherine who was staring, eyes wide. "Is it possible for vampires to go into shock?"

"Honestly," he paused for a moment, thinking, "I have no idea." I nodded.

"Well, I'll be home in a few hours. Make sure the basement is ready. Can't have her running off again now, can we?" I teased him good-naturedly. I heard him growl and grumble from the other end, and said my goodbyes, hanging up.

I turned to Anthony, who had appeared on the other side of me and motioned to him to grab Katherine's arm and dragged her to Ashley's Audi A6 Hybrid, a car that she bought only for the sheer irony of the word hybrid. She joked that the car would 'turn into a giant dog and go bite random vampires'. Needless to say, neither Klaus nor I were impressed or amused.

Anthony sat in the back with Katherine, the child locks on. I got in the driver's seat and headed home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hi," I said, opening the door from the outside at the same time Klaus didn't from the inside. I smiled at him. He looked at me, but his face was impassive, closed off.

"Hello Elena," he said formally, "Ashley returned home only minutes ago." I nodded and pulled opened the door for Katherine and Anthony. She had come to and started flailing, struggling to get free. She knew that I was bringing her to Klaus. She thought Klaus was going to kill her. "Zdravei, Katerina," he said again to her, making her fight more to get away.

"Oh!" Ashley said, stepping to the door, "Come in, Katerina and other person who I don't know." I rolled my eyes at Ashley's antics. Anthony and I pulled her inside, despite her struggles. Ashley was able to subdue her with magic.

"Ash, Klaus, this is Anthony won't tell me his real last name," I introduced the blond boy behind me. Ashley cocked her head at him in all of her four foot eleven glory and smirked.

"Help me get her downstairs. Then you and I, Elena, have to head back before Vampire Barbie beheads us both." My heart panged at the familiar nickname for Caroline from him.

Her and Anthony lifted the knocked out Katherine and pulled her downstairs. I suppose it was mostly Anthony lifting, but Ashley had her feet. More than that, she was using this opportunity to admire Katherine's shoes. Ashleyism, I thought.

"I'm sorry," I told Klaus, who wasn't looking at me.

"For what exactly?" he asked, as if he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. As if I would believe that. He was angry. He was very angry. I saw him tense and I knew he was livid.

"I was just upset about what Ashley had said. I shouldn't have taken that out on you though," I spoke softly, reaching towards him slowly, as if he were a horse about to spook. Carefully, I placed my hand on his bicep, feeling the muscle tense beneath my touch, and tentatively looked into his cold, hard eyes. His face showed nothing. "It wasn't right and I'm sorry," I finished.

He nodded his head, but turned away and didn't answer. He was very quiet for a long while. Awkwardly, I dropped my hand from his arm, stepping back as he stared out the window. "Elena!" Ashley sang, stepping into the living room, oblivious to the tension. "It's time to go!"

I nodded, turning away dejectedly. Any relationship, any friendship that Klaus and I had formed was sufficiently destroyed. The thought saddened me greatly. We had grown so close over the past year that the idea nearly broke my heart, not that it was ever really whole, not since _Damon_ had left me. Now, the only other man I had let in since has turned his back on me. It was enough to make me want someone else feel the pain I was feeling. Sometimes the fights that never happen are the ones that hurt the most. For the first time since I turned, I actually felt bad enough to want to turn off my emotions.

I followed the tiny blonde from the house and into the car, staring out into the world as we passed by it. Each growing second left me more detached from the world, from my humanity. Was this my life, that I would push away those that became closest to me, that came to mean the most to me? I didn't want this. I didn't want to be a hybrid. I never asked for this. I never truly chose to turn and apparently I couldn't just burn in the sun.

When we stopped, I took off before Caroline could realize I was back, just walking with nowhere in mind. I strolled down the street, casually observing the world around me. There was a man who was following a young woman, who was hardly older than eighteen, across the street. As she cut through the shortcut, an alley behind the Grill, he followed her… and I followed him.

The man was closing in on the girl, about to grab her, the girl blissfully unaware, as I snatched him from behind. She continued on. The man stared in horror, his heart racing fast as he turned to meet my eyes. As he say only a young woman, he calmed and smirked at me. "Hey hot stuff. Want a piece of me?" he flirted. I gave him my own wolfish grin.

"You know I do," I half purred- half hissed, snapping my fangs out, my eyes changing their brown color to that yellow-orange color that was traditionally only for werewolves, the blood rushing to the whites in my eyes, before I snapped at his throat like an attacking snake. I welcomed the warm blood that entered my mouth from this wicked man. I hadn't been drinking human blood fresh from the source, but maybe I needed to. There were plenty of men in the world just like this one. The world would be better off without them.

And as I feasted on the warm elixir, I allowed my guards to go down, not on purpose, no, but I was allowing myself to enjoy the delectable substance of which I had denied myself for so long. I never fed on Ashley or Danny, nor had I ever associated them with food from fear of Ashley. Most humans though, smelt good, so good that it was near impossible to stop myself from the nectar that my body desired so strongly that my entire existence merely depended on the red liquid conveniently contained within the walking happy meals. Now I understood why he had called them that; they were a meal and a toy.

Suddenly, I was ripped from my sweet nirvana and thrown hard against the alley wall. My dead heart raced silently in fear as I met my fate.


	8. Chapter 7- Elena

I didn't notice as my attacker sent my food away. If they were going to kill me, kill me already and stop dragging it out. Swiftly, I was pulled tightly against my attacker's hard, chiseled chest. I pushed a bit with my hands at his chest, trying to free myself, but he refused to let go.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, pushing harder, "Now let me go!"

"No!" the older hybrid growled, "Elena!" he snapped as I tried to stabbed him with a pencil from the ground. "Would you stop and listen to me?"

"Why should I?" I yelled back, thrusting my arms out hard so I broke free of his grip, "So Ashley can walk in, yell at us, get mad at the both of us, and then we fight… or really don't fight. I can't live like that, Klaus."

"I know," he said softly, brushing his thumb underneath my eye, collecting the tears that had fallen. "I spoke to Ashley and she said she would back off."

I nodded, turning away from his to lean back against his chest, my head falling back onto his shoulder. "So where does that leave us?" He was quiet. He didn't have the answer to my question anymore than I did. He pressed his lips to the side of my head, the only spot he could reach.

"I care about you unlike any other person," he admitted finally, "After alienating everyone else, you are also the only person I can call a friend." I nodded, turning back to face him, blood still on my lips.

"Eternity is a long time to be alone," I told him, giving him a quick peck. "Maybe we don't need a defined relationship. Maybe we just need to be Elena and Klaus." He smirked at me, the cocky jerk!

"Maybe we can," he stated softly with that cocky smirk, "After all, I do make most of the rules," he added in as an afterthought, before he covered my lips with his, tasting the blood on them, kissing me and in that moment, I realized something very important. I could never be Katherine. I could never be so heartless not to feel anything. I didn't feel guilty about biting that man, no, he deserved to be hurt after trying to kill that lady, but I'd never turn off my emotions. It was too important to be able to feel.

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"Caroline is going to kill me!" I declared as I laid on the hybrid's chest in my bed in my childhood bedroom and thought about five guys. Five very different guys had all lain with me in this bed, just laying here, holding me against them.

First there was Matt. Sweet, loyal Matt. Matt would follow me, or Tyler, or Vicki to the ends of the earth. Later, Caroline replaced Vicki on that list. He was so nice and gentle and so very _human_. Before the accident, he was the only person who could keep me from losing myself in the parties and the sneaking out and the thrill of life in general. After the accident, I wasn't human enough to care. I was a shell, only a reminder of what I used to be.

Then there was Tyler. We never dated, but we were closer a few weeks after the accident. He had brought me to the hospital when I had fallen down the stairs and sprained my ankle when he was picking up some stuff for his parents and the Council, then he brought me home. Jenna was doing legal paperwork or something to get guardianship over us and Matt had been working. Tyler and I had an understanding for that night. I had just lost my parents not too long before and he had never really had his at that point. When the reality sunk in of how truly alone Jer, Jenna, and I were, I had started to cry and Tyler had just held me. I knew he had felt weird, hugging his best friend's girlfriend, but Tyler and I knew we were related in someway or another and he had always been more of a brother to me than anything else and right then, I had just needed someone to just hold me so badly that it hurt… and he was there… and made sure I was going to be alright and made me some dinner, a TV dinner, but either way, it was better than the awful hospital food that had been offered to me. I had had enough of it a few week prior. We were friends… if only for the moment.

Then there was Stefan. A vampire, but a good one, at least I thought. I had only one minor experience of him going off the wagon, not enough to give me a true taste of what he could become. He seemed like something from a fairy tale, my own Prince Charming. He was something from a _dream_. But then Katherine came about, and everything went downhill from there. Dragging not far behind his jealous, spiteful ex, was his other jealous, spiteful ex, Rebekah, Klaus' sister, and both seemed to hate me quite a bit.

After that, there was _Damon_. Beautiful, tragically flawed, dangerous _Damon_. He was the one to keep me safe when Stefan couldn't. Somewhere along the line, I fell in love with him. He was terrifying, but I knew he'd never hurt me. He loved me. It wasn't perfect, but it was so pure and _passionate_ that I feared it. I didn't understand how he could love me so much that he'd die just to save my life for even a short time. It terrified me. I avoided it, avoided him for so long, and now he was gone, and I could feel the hole in my life where that large chunk of my heart had once lived.

Now, there is Klaus. Violent, angry, revengeful Klaus. Maybe that's a bad description. On first glance, that's all he is. But the man I know, the man beside me, that's not who he is. Lost, loving, _broken._ Klaus is far more accurate. He has held onto the pain of losing the first girl he ever loved for a millennium. The only father he ever knew hated him. His mother hated him for something that wasn't even his doing, something that wasn't even his choice, but had been both her doing and her choice and she regarded him, to some extent, as a mistake, my belief was. He had hurt everyone he knew, trying to find someone to care for him unconditionally, because he didn't want to be alone. He's been alone for such a long time. He doesn't take the place of _Damon_ , but he lessens the pain. He made me feel whole, as whole as we could both get went we're both so broken.

"No, she won't," he sighed, running his fingers through my hair. The ends were beginning to curl. I'd have to straighten them some more. I stretched up, reaching up to meet his lips for a second before laying back into my original position. I hoped Anthony knew well enough to not let Katherine out. I jolted straight up.

"Did you leave Anthony with Katherine?" I shot out.

"Yes," the Original said, narrowing his eyes in confusion, "Why?"

"To begin with, I think he's possibly the youngest Salvatore brother. Two, they seem to fall for doppelgangers a little too often, no?" This made Klaus jerk up as well and he groaned loudly.

"I practically signed a release warrant for her, didn't I?" I nodded.

"Let me give him a call and stress that no matter what, he doesn't let her out."

He nodded in acquiescence, reluctantly moving to let me climb from the bed. I dialed the house number and was greet with a groggy "'ello?"

"Anthony?" I asked into the phone.

"Yes, Miss Elena?"

"Whatever you do, don't let Katherine out of the cell." He yawned.

"Please don't worry, Miss Elena. I shot her through the little window thing with one of those stake guns you showed me earlier before bed. I had soaked it in vervain first. She doesn't sound too happy about that." I sighed in relief. "Have a nice night, Miss Elena."

"You too," I told him, before hanging up. "Maybe the kid's not so bad. He didn't fall for Katherine's tricks," I told Klaus, curling back up on the bed beside him. His arm wrapped back around me, and I breathed in deeply.

"What makes you think he's a Salvatore?" 

"For one, the man who he said was his father is either an identical twin or possibly doppelganger of Giuseppe Salvatore, at least from the pictures Stefan had showed me of him. Also, didn't you notice he had Stefan's hair color, but _D-Damon_ 's face shape and eyes? That, and he introduced himself as 'Antonio DeSangue', which, when I was snooping through Stefan's room through his diaries, was the same last name I found that... that _Damon_ used during the later half of the eighteen hundreds." I traced random lines on his arm. It was quiet, calm for a few moments before I added, "I think there is a very slim chance that they're not related."

"Enough about the Salvatores," he whispered. I quieted, closing my eyes. I was so comfortable. That was until Ashley came bursting in the room. She had her phone in hand. Her eyes were wide with fear and uncertainty. I had never seen Ashley so frightened. It scared me.

"We have a major problem."

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"So there are these witches and few vampires I keep in touch with," Ashley told us, using the pendant that normally stated around her neck to hang over a map. "They felt a great disturbance, like there was a great number of vampires migrating." She looked up at us. "Stefan's building an army. Your brothers are in the lead." This news didn't surprise us. We had both suspected this much. The pendant pulled towards the north central part of the United States.

"So Stefan took my advice," the hybrid beside me growled, "Only that wasn't advice for him to take."

I looked to Ashley who looked up at me. Together, we glanced over to at him confused. "What advice?"

"I told him that 'You don't arm yourself when war has been declared. You build your army so big, that no one ever dares make the fight.'"

"And that's what he's doing," Ashley pointed out. "I'll keep an eye out on if Rebekah pops up. My sources said that Elijah is either still daggered or not there. That means we could still have a chance." Klaus raised his eyes brows in surprise.

"I thought you would have just thrown me to the wolves, metaphorically speaking, of course." The tiny blonde witch cocked her head and looked at him. Then she reached out, taking his hand and squeezed it.

"Of course not. You're my friend too. And you make Elena happy, which is important. But you're the closest I've had to a brother, and this is the closest I've had to any sort of real family, in a long time. I'm not going to lost my family for a second time." I regarded Ashley's wording very carefully. What did she mean 'closest she's had to a brother'? Obviously, she's left more than a couple things out from her life story. "I can practically see the gears grinding in your head, 'Lena. What is it?" she asked and I could see her hands were back in her lap again.

"'Closest you've had to a brother?'" She nodded, getting up, and she walked into the bathroom, filling a cup about halfway with water.

"Half brother, really. We shared our dad. He was eight years older than me, and he was the one that taught me how to do what I'm about to do next." She reached for Klaus' hand, pulling out a knife and slicing his wrist, letting his blood drip into the cup and mix with the water. "He died at the hands of a sadistic murderer, the kind that reminds me that vampires and werewolves have nothing on the human monsters. You guys kill to live. The man who killed my brother had no intention on letting me live to see the morning that night," her voice shook with anger, but now it became deathly quiet. "It was the first time I ever preformed magic. Of course I knew it existed, but I had only ever watched my brother perform spells. He grabbed my hand just before he died, looked into my eyes, and suddenly, I just knew how to use it." There were tears streaming down her face now, wet lines running the length of her cheeks. "Then that man… that awful, horrible man… his brain exploded inside his head. I was so angry that I just knew. When the cops found us a few hours later, they declared the killer's death to be that my brother must have hit the man's head against something during a struggle."

Klaus had stood, looking out of the window. His face was solemn and I somehow knew that he was thinking about his little brother, Henrick, the one Rebekah had said Klaus felt responsible for his dead. He couldn't have stopped his brother's death, no more than Ashley could have stopped hers. I glanced towards the bathroom, thinking about the sleeping person on the other side of the wall. My little brother had died before. He was only alive by a miracle, by Bonnie begging her ancestor.

Ashley was making the blood in the water, Klaus' blood, split to separate sides in the glass before she split the glass in two, making two new glasses. One had half of Klaus' blood, the other had the other half. She tore off a piece of paper from a notebook, scribbling on it two words- werewolf blood- before sticking it with the one glass. The other, she dumped onto the map and began to chant.

"It goes two ways," she announced as the blood stopped. "Half of it stopped in Chicago, the other half in St. Louis. I'm going to guess that wherever Rebekah is, Elijah is too. That means your other two brothers are with Stefan. I'm saying he's in St. Louis."

Klaus turned, looking at her curiously. "Why?"

"Because Chicago has had less reports of deaths in the past few weeks. St. Louis on the other hand, has had about twenty or so 'animal attacks'. Now, I'm sure we're all well aware of that old saying, 'an army travels on its stomach'. Stefan's army is going to bring a bloodbath until they know where you are. Let's face it, he doesn't exactly know where you're at. Where's the rest of your hybrids?"

"Dead. Stefan made sure of that. Tyler and Elena are the last alive ones." I sucked in a sharp breath. My eyes were wide as I looked at my friend, boyfriend, lover (?), unknown relationship status significant other. He sat down besides me on my bed, pulling into his arms. "Don't worry, my lovely. Nothing is going to happen to you."

"How do you know?" I whimpered. It was Ashley that answered.

"Because outside of this room, there's three people that know you died for a second time. Katherine, who is under lock and key, Anthony, who is following you like a puppy, and Danny. If that cell can hold the both of you in at the full moon, it can surely hold Katherine. Anthony isn't going to do something to risk losing you. He told me he is indebted to you because you helped free him from his father. Danny knows that the three of us would kill him if he spilled anything. Your furry little secret is safe." I bit my lip, holding back a laugh.

"Carol Lockwood thought I was pregnant," I told them, "Though I might have been the one to lie about that if the first place. She was going to call the council on me and you know who that consists of. Her, Liz, that Meredith woman, and Alaric." Though I laughed, Ashley's eyes met mine.

"We need to focus," Ashley said in a commanding voice.

"I still have some of Elena's blood in a blood bag from when she was human. It's stale, but it will have to do." I nodded, agreeing. As much as I didn't like those kind of hybrids, they were necessary. We were going to need them. They'd follow Klaus to the ends of the earth. I'm so glad I wasn't 'sired'. I must be the only hybrid who created that way.

"I'll get my witch friends to meet us back home after this little trip. Maybe we can somehow extract the doppelganger part of her blood and make more," Ashley offered, "I know you have a witch or two you can ask. You're not that good at alienating everyone."

"If Stefan is building an army," Klaus said, "We'll just have to make ours bigger, that way he won't dare come close. But if it's a war he wants, it's a war he shall get."


	9. Chapter 8- Elena

Almost two years. That's how long I have been a hybrid. Slowly, I have become more and more a creature of night, like any true vampire in the stories. I never wanted to be a vampire. I never wanted to be a werewolf, yet here I was, almost two years later, and I was both.

I was inside the dark finished attic room of the house. It was longer, rather than wide, and normally very bright, but during the night, it was dark. One end was occupied by a large antique canopy bed with dark curtains closed tight around the bed. The other had a princess bed, with lots of pink. Two long, beige curtains separate the two sides of the room and created a small hallway. The two girls that resided in the beds were just as different.

Jennifer Miranda was in her bed, the princess bed. She was very bright and sunshine-y. She looked like me as a child, another doppelganger, curls and all. More than likely, her blood would be able to create more hybrids, an army. We needed an army. We needed one so big that we could stop Stefan without fighting a war. If my suspicions we true, then she could help. An antique dollhouse, no doubt belonging to Isobel, was on the other side of her "room", as was a small table and chairs and tea set. That half of the room was painted pink. A bright dresser/vanity stood across from her bed.

In the other "room", Isobelle Alexia Rosemarie, named for Damon's mother and the three vampire women who had affected my life most without giving Katherine the satisfaction of naming my daughter after her. Isabelle Fabre Salvatore. Damon had told me about her after I stumbled across a painting of her stored away in the attic of the boarding house. I had changed the third letter, the a to an o, to pay homage to my birth mother. She looked like a mini, female version of Damon with black hair and those icy blue eyes.

"Mommy?" a little voice asked groggily, pulling back the dark curtains on her bed, "What are you doing here?"

"Things are getting very dangerous. I want you to stay close to Grandma and Grandpa." She nodded her tiny head. I pulled out a necklace, a locket. Damon had given it to me. He had filled it with vervain. I didn't need it now, since I was ingesting vervain every day anyways. The locket was a silver heart. On the front, it said 'Forever' and on the back it had simply 'E&D'. "I want you to always wear this and never open it. I have to go away for a long while now, so be a good girl to Grandma and Grandpa and be nice to your sister. And I know this is a lot to ask, but I want you to keep her safe, okay? Bad men might try to come after her, but they can't get her, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy, I'll make sure Sissy is safe," my little dark haired angel whispered. I tucked her in, nice and warm beneath her comforters.

"Happy birthday, my sweet little angel," I told her, kissing her forehead. I opened my bag, pulling out my old teddy bear and placed it into her arms. "I love you so much, Isobelle. You are good, and pure, and perfect, Izzy. Don't ever forget who you are or what you stand for. Always remember that." She nodded sleepily, already almost back to sleep. I pulled her curtain shut, placing a leather diary with a letter inside addressed to her on her bedside table, along with a small bottle filled with blood, Klaus' blood, and instructions to only drink if she was hurt or dying, and if she were dying and drank this, to drink some of her sister's blood when she woke. I didn't know if the werewolf gene had been passed to her or not, but I wasn't taking any chances. Then I moved the other end of the attic.

This side of the room was pink. Everything in it was shade of pink. Everything seemed to be Disney princess themed. Brown curls, closer to Katherine's than my normal curls, were spread out over the pillow. I pulled out a letter and a small jewelry box containing a silver heart shaped locket with a flower on it that I had filled with vervain. Then I pulled out a sedative from my bag. It was in a syringe, that I quickly stuck into her arm. Then I grabbed the new, empty blood bag and the tubing that would pull the blood into it.

I was glad that Danny had gotten an internship in the hospital. He would be staying, now that Ashley and I had graduated, with Katherine and Anthony in the house. Klaus, Ashley, and I were all going to hunt down werewolves, hunt down Stefan, hunt down Damon, and try to avoid being killed. He had lent me the equipment to do this in secret. I had no bond to Klaus to tell him that my daughter was the doppelganger. Still, we needed her blood. We needed an army of hybrids, ones that were sired to Klaus. If this was the only way, then so be it, but I will not let my daughters live where they constantly have to look over their shoulder for vampires.

When the blood bag was full, I took it, kissing my doppelganger's forehead, before placing it inside my bag. I tucked her in nicely, walking downstairs where I compelled Isobel's parents. They wouldn't let people in the house that could come in without an invitation or that they didn't know, they would drink vervain after I was finished. They would keep my daughters safe. They wouldn't remember me; Isobel's daughter died when the girls were three. She had left them with us. That is all they had to know. The girls surname was now FitzGerald, just like Ashley. They met me once, I had left the girls gifts for when they got older, and I was sort of a deadbeat mother. That's what they would remember about me. And only I could remove the compulsion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I glanced around the room at Ashley's house. I felt Klaus' hand on my shoulder, pulling me against him. We had ended our relationship a few months ago, and what remained was a pair of very close friends, bonded together by shared experiences. It was similar to my friendship withDamon when I was human, but different in so many ways. He knew he didn't need to protect me, because I was strong enough to protect myself.

"Are you ready?" the older hybrid whispered into my ear. I turned to look into his eyes. He looked… nervous? Klaus was never nervous. I wrapped my arms around him.

"It's onto the next great adventure. Finding and stopping Stefan from revealing to the world vampires exist."

"I have an address!" Ashley yelled, running in. "Are you guys ready to go?" I looked at my witch friend and nodded.

"Let's do this."

TBC…


	10. Epilogue

  
**Location:** At the Gilbert House

  
**Date:** Approximately 1 month after Klaus, Elena, and Ashley's departure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashley hated lying like this. These people, they were Elena's friends, her family. Still, she lifted her hand and knocked, willing herself to be serious, to be solemn. She could do this. She was a witch and it was her duty to protect these people from what was about to come. The boy, Jeremy, she remembered, answered the door, holding it open for her. She plastered a smile on her face, a painfully forced smile.

"Hey, Ashley, right?" the brown hair boy asked.

"Yes. Good memory, Jeremy." He led her to the living room. There they were. The tall blonde vampire, Caroline, and her hybrid husband, Tyler, were on the love seat. The short African-American witch, Bonnie, and the boy who she remembered as the other witch's mother's adopted son, Jaime, were on the sofa, Alaric's girlfriend, Meredith, the doctor, with them. There was Alaric, the vampire hunting schoolteacher, standing behind his girlfriend. Matt, the sweet blond boy, was standing up in the corner of the room. In the oversized chair, there was a brunette whose name escaped her, but she knew the girl was Jeremy's girlfriend.

"I'm so, so, so, so sorry," Ashley started out, a look of horror crossing her face as her eyes became glassy. Hey, she wasn't didn't win award through elementary through high school for acting for nothing. "I didn't know. I would have never opened the door if I did," her words came out rushed. She covered her mouth with her hand, choking back a sob. "There were these men... two of them. The asked to see Elena. She looked panicked but I d-d-didn't think much about it at the time. She went with him. They found the car in they were in floating in the river, part of it was stuck on a rock or something. The door was broke open," she was shaking now. She was sure this was convincing. "One of the men was in there, unconscious, but Elena- oh god- she-she wasn't-" she broke off, sobbing, "She wasn't in the car. And then the man woke, he started laughing hysterically that she was gone and then he took off this ring he had and he started burning and turned into ashes and I don't know how. But before he did that, he said, 'It's done. The doppelganger dead!' I don't know what he meant, but I'm assuming he meant Elena."

She risked a looked at their faces through her forced tears. Jeremy was pale, very pale. Alaric looked like he was going to be sick. Meredith was just staring. Matt had a look of horror over his face. Bonnie was clutching Jaime's hand, tears streaming down her face silently. Caroline was holding on to Tyler, who looked stricken, as his wife wept. "W-W-When?" Jeremy asked.

"About a week and a half ago. I didn't want to say anything, in case they found her, but they told me it was a pretty good chance that they would never find her body." She brushed away a few tears, being careful of her makeup. She didn't want any of the black substance that was running down her cheeks to get on her hands. "I'm so, so sorry," she repeated.

Bonnie stood, unlinking her hand from Jaime, and walking across the room to hug Ashley. The Bennett witch's eyes went wide as she faced away from the room. What she could sense with this girl was dark. She could sense the Original hybrid and she could sense her best friend and she knew this girl was lying. The question, though, was why? Was she working for Klaus?

"I'm going to go get some vervain from the Boarding House, for some more tea. Do you want to come with me, Ashley?" Bonnie asked softly. The others could mourn; she needed to know why this girl who was working for Klaus was in Elena's house.

"Alright," Ashley sniffled, "But I don't know the way there."

"Don't worry, I'll drive," the Bennett witch told her. Ashley nodded.

"Should you be driving?" Caroline asked her best friend. Bonnie gave her a weary smile.

"I'll be fine."

So the two witches left the Gilbert house and Bonnie drove to the house were the dead witches were. This girl, whether hybrid, or vampire, or whatever she was, would have to talk now. She was in her domain.

"What did you do to Elena?" Bonnie yelled at her.

"I didn't do anything," Ashley stated calmly.

"You're working for Klaus. What did you do to Elena?"

"I didn't do anything to her. I'd never hurt Elena! I swear!" Ashley insisted, yelping as Bonnie yanked her hair and dragged her over by the candles, beginning to chant.

"Stop." The single word followed by the footsteps made Bonnie freeze. She hadn't heard that voice since before Damon had left town. She looked into the face of the Original himself. "She's telling the truth."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because I have something of interest to you." Bonnie's expression changed to confusion as she watched the hybrid look not at her, but over her shoulder. Slowly, she turned around to face her best friend's face.

"Hi Bonnie," Elena said softly. Bonnie swallowed, before snapping around back to Klaus.

"What did you do to her?"

"That…" The hybrid chuckled, "that's an interesting question."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So you're a hybrid now? But you're not acting all 'Klaus is my master. I worship the ground he walks on'." Elena shook her head.

"I have a theory, two theories on that." She waited for her best friend's expression to change from confusion to curiosity before she continued. "One theory is that because I'm the doppelganger, and my blood has to be used to transform, so it doesn't affect me."

"And the other theory?"

"Before I turned, I hadn't killed anyone. That means until that point, I had never triggered the werewolf curse. Because he changed me when I wanted to die more than anything, I felt resentful. I didn't owe him anything. I still don't owe him anything. He killed me!" Then Elena frowned, "Well, technically, I strangled myself the second time with the hospital wires." She risked a looked at Bonnie's face. The witch had a look of what seemed to be awe.

"My two best friends are dead." She snorted, "So why are you with him now if you owe him nothing?"

"Because…" Elena sighed, looking for the right word, "he's lost, more lost than the rest of us."

"And somehow, you see him worth saving." The witch shook her head. "Un-be-lievable. He kills you, turns you into a hybrid, and you still think you can save the guy. Elena, if only the world was full of yous." Both girls laughed.

"He's a good man, Bonnie. I know how it feels now though. When you're angry, you can slip up, kill someone, kill many people. When you're hurt, the pain, it overwhelms you, and if you don't release it, you feel like you're going to explode. The two are so closely related that when you think about it, Klaus has been hurt so many times, especially by the people closest to him. But deep down, Klaus the person is a good man. In his human life, he'd been innocent."

Bonnie looked carefully at her best friend, studying her. She had grown up so much more than she should have had to. She had been through more in the last five years than people go through in lifetimes. "So you want me to protect the town. Keep up the rumor that a vampire, who hates Klaus, killed you." Elena nodded.

"I don't want to have to lie to everyone, but if they know where I am, that I'm alive, I'm putting them in danger." Elena closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Stefan woke up the other Originals. He scared Katherine, of all people! He didn't recognize me, even though I've age, and he acted like I was Katherine. This isn't the Stefan we know. Ashley has some friends that are spying on him and they said there are hundreds of vampires there, under his command."

"What does he want?" Elena was quiet. She stood, going to one of the shelves with the candles, lifting them up and examined them. She drew lines on one with her fingernail, then handed it to Bonnie.

"He wants to reveal vampires to the world. He wants to take down Klaus, then use the world as one big vampire play land. I know that you'd think Klaus would be on board for that idea, but he's not. Even though he says that human life is our means to an end, in the back of his mind, he doesn't believe that. He regrets killing his mother. You can hear it in his voice when he lets his guard down. Ashley has the means to take Stefan down, all of us do, but it's going to take work and that's why I have to be dead."

She nodded, before she wrapped her arms around her best friend. "I'll miss you, 'Lena. Don't forget me." Elena hugged the witch back.

"I won't. I'll miss you too. I'm going to miss everyone. Take care of everyone."

"And you be careful."

Elena nodded, pulling back. "You have to go," she told the witch. "Everyone will wonder where you went. I got some vervain when Ashley texted me the excuse you used to get out of there." Bonnie smiled.

"Bye Elena." She turned to Klaus and Ashley who had reentered the room. "You better take care of her or so help me God, I will hunt you down and-"

"Ashley would have killed me six or seven times at that point," the Original stated, "But don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to either of them." He pulled something, a small package, out of his pocket, tossing it to her. "That was my mother's. Perhaps you can channel her from beyond still. She should help, after all, she created this mess to begin with." Bonnie carefully untied the strings. Inside was a pendant, similar to the one Elena used to have, Rebekah's locket, but not quite. It held little blue stones, bluer than the skies on a clear day. "The crystals contain energy, how much, I'm not sure. She put a spell on it about two years before we turned to connect the crystals' energy with this comet that passed overhead. I think she was saving the energy in it for something big." The witch nodded, biting back a reply of 'Bigger than the creation of vampires?'. After all, for the first time, the Original and her were on the same side.

"Thank you." Silence filled the air. Everyone knew how much it took for Bonnie to thank Klaus for anything. After several moments of quiet, Bonnie spoke again. "Ashley, we need to go. They're expecting us."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deep within a large compound in the rural area of Illinois, a metal door clanged opened, footsteps walked down a long hall, a hall that was dark to human eyes. A second door clanged opened before the vampire closed it. There was a large, circular room with a table in the center, with maps rolled out on it. Three men stood around the table, talking in hushed voices. The vampire knelt before the three male vampires, the two Originals and their leader, a young, blond vampire with a reddish-brown base to his hair. There was a guard who was also there, a dark haired with bright eyes vampire, standing against the wall of the room, completely silent, a prisoner in his own mind.

"Sirs," he greeted, "The doppelganger is dead."

The End…


End file.
